Stepping Up for Hurricane Relief

— Written By NC State Extension
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[View the full original article by Tim Peeler at NC State News.]

NC State survived last week’s catastrophic storm in Western North Carolina without much damage, though some research stations and farms are not fully operational in the decimated areas. They are, however, serving as staging areas to get supplies to communities in need.

Between Friday and Sunday, more than 30 trillion gallons of rain inundated Western North Carolina, wiping away some small towns and cutting Asheville and Boone, the area’s largest municipalities, off from basic services like electricity, running water, and cellular, wireless and internet services. In North Carolina alone, more than 160 deaths have been reported.

“It’s going to take some time for us to fully piece together everything that happened meteorologically,” says Michael Brennan, three-time NC State graduate who is the director of NOAA’s National Hurricane Center in Miami. “It was a catastrophic event that is really unlike anything Western North Carolina has ever seen before.”

Helene poured more than 30 inches of rain over the course of three days. Property and infrastructure damage at this point is incalculable, and damage to three of North Carolina’s five largest economic sectors — agriculture, manufacturing and tourism — cannot yet be assessed.

For the most part, NC State’s Raleigh campuses had little damage, other than 70 or so minor leaks that often occur during heavy rainfall.

NC State field labs and research stations in the western part of the state were also spared major damage, even though they were in the direct path of the storm. There is still no power and water at the College of Engineering’s Minerals Research Lab in Asheville, but the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Mills River, the Mountain Research Station in Waynesville and the Upper Mountain Research Station in Laurel Springs all had both restored to their facilities on Tuesday.

“NC State facilities and our remote sites survived,” says Allen Boyette, assistant vice chancellor for campus operations and maintenance. “There are places that are not operational right now, but there was not a lot of structural or physical damages that we know of.”

That has allowed university personnel to begin lending a hand to community partners and neighbors in the affected region. While electricity, water and other necessities are still scarce and recovery is just beginning in those communities, the shared NC State and North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS) sites are being used as local staging hubs to distribute donated supplies.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation is using the 397-acre Mills River station as a service hub because of its 2,100-gallon fuel tanks. One need there is for 5-gallon buckets with lids.

“Our stations, both NCDA&CS and NC State owned, are transitioning to recovery hubs and staging areas for relief efforts in the community,” says Loren Fisher, assistant director of research for CALS. “They are well-linked with FEMA, local emergency management and the Forest Service in these efforts.”

Many of the N.C. Cooperative Extension facilities in the 26 western counties most affected by the storm are still without power and water, and not all have been in touch with damage reports. Extension’s N.C. Disaster Information Center provides updates and a full list of resources for those in need. It also has a daily email digest with safety and recovery information for those who subscribe.

Campuswide, many faculty and staff have begun collecting supplies to send to western locations. The items in high demand include diapers, disinfecting wipes, feminine hygiene products and other personal care items.

One place to drop off supplies on NC State’s campus is the Lake Wheeler Road Field Lab, where CALS is collecting supplies to send to its three western research stations. So far, two trailer loads of goods have been shipped out. The field labs will continue to collect goods through Oct. 9. Once everything arrives at the research stations, they will be distributed by employees to members of the community who need them most.

Discover more ways you can help with the Hurricane Helene relief efforts.

View the full original article by Tim Peeler at NC State News.