North Carolina has always had hurricanes. The state’s ice hockey team, aptly named the Carolina Hurricanes, is testament to that. In late summer and early fall, North Carolina residents track weather systems, wondering which of them might
make landfall. Invariably, one or more named hurricanes will hit coastal regions, and might even go inland, to the state’s Piedmont area, the mostly flat or hilly zone that extends across the central part of the state.
The stunning mountain landscapes of the western part of the state are another thing. They get rain, sure, and snow, too. It gets muddy and cold. But tropical storms are so rare that the last one to hit Western North Carolina (WNC) was over a century ago, and many considered the region a climate safe haven. That is, until 2024’s Hurricane Helene brought catastrophic flooding and mudslides, causing extensive damage and leaving many without shelter or clean water. Afterward, residents faced massive debris, washed-out roads and bridges, fallen trees and damaged homes (an estimated 73,700 homes across the region were damaged or destroyed). There were shortages of food and clean water, too. The devastation was unprecedented: Hurricane Helene was the deadliest hurricane to hit the continental United States in the last 100 years, topped only by Hurricane Katrina.
In Old Fort, a mountain community of 800, at least 47 homes and buildings were destroyed, and 36 others damaged. Our branches in both Old Fort and Hendersonville were severely damaged, each requiring months to fully reopen, and multiple other
branches experienced closures. The storm also impacted our own employees: 40 among those in WNC lost power and running water for an extended period, many lost loved ones, others lost their homes, vehicles and personal possessions.
Recovery is underway, but much work remains. The storm left impassable roads throughout the region -- even stretches of Interstate 40 were closed, making routine tasks complicated. To serve our members, we took immediate action, finding workarounds
for logistical difficulties, like ensuring open branches had cash and necessary supplies so members could access their funds.
As we worked to reopen our branches, we set up a donation drive, seeding a fund with $30,000 and pledging a 2:1 match for employee contributions. Hundreds of Self-Help staff responded within hours, bringing the total donation to well over $50,000.
We provided housing in some of our buildings, and reached out to a philanthropic partner organization, Dogwood Health Trust, to discuss meeting urgent housing needs (see Building Resilience in this section). We worked with volunteers to help
coordinate deliveries of critical goods (water, toilet paper, gasoline and others), established forbearance and hardship programs for our borrowers, and created a webpage listing resources for residents with various needs. A partner organization,
The Hunger Coalition of Transylvania County, played a crucial role distributing food to those in need.
Western North Carolinians continue to work through the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene and showed us all what community looks like. We saw resilience and neighborliness: the many people who came from near and far to help,
bringing tools, trucks, gallons of water and other critical supplies to support members of our WNC communities as they embarked on the long work of restoration. As a Community Development Financial Institution, we were there in the immediate
aftermath, and we’ll be there for our Western North Carolina neighbors in the years-long recovery process that lies ahead.