Cass County, N.D. – Even though the skies has dramatically improved this week, the recovery and cleanup effort is ongoing days after severe weather tore up many parts of eastern North Dakota.
“It looked like a bomb had gone off,” Cass County Sheriff Jesse Jahner said on The Jay Thomas Show about some of the devastation he first witnessed in places like Page following Friday’s storms.
“I drove up there, and when I drove into town I couldn’t believe it.”
Jahner says his deputies have been working hard ever since to help the community work through this “tragic and difficult situation.”
Jahner described what it was like trying to work during the height of the storms that spawned several tornadoes, one of which killed 3 people in Enderlin.
“The storm was still very much active and we were all working in a dangerous situation,” said Jahner. “On top of that, to come across that loss of life and those individuals knowing who those people were.”
Jahner explained the current job his office is carrying out during the ongoing recovery, not only in Enderlin, but in hard-hit northern county cities and towns like Page, Arthur, Erie and Hunter.
Listen: Cass County Sheriff Jesse Jahner talks to WDAY’s Jay Thomas
“We’ve switched into emergency field operation mode,” said Jahner. “That means we can move into 12 hour shifts and gets our staffing compliment a little better.”
Jahner says he’s assigned a couple of units to northern Cass so that they can continually drive around those cities and see what they need.
Jahner says the goal is also to have extra visibility and protection in devastated areas, since there’s also worry about preventing potential looting.
“There’s a lot of houses and businesses damaged and I don’t want anyone coming out to this area and trying to take advantage of people,” said Jahner.
