After Hurricane Helene, Community Became Our Lifeline

Nothing prepared me for Hurricane Helene. One year ago, the storm pummeled the mountains and valleys of Western North Carolina and the small college where I live and teach.

The night of the floods, I lay alone in bed listening to the popping of pine trees falling. Then I woke to silence—the calm after the storm—and saw trees sliced through neighbors’ homes with power lines dangling in driveways. It would be weeks before we had electricity and nearly two months before we had potable water.

In the last year, I’ve seen firsthand how community is critical for facing climate disasters. As the Trump administration dismantled federal agencies like FEMA, the U.S. experienced a total of 27 climate disasters last year with $1 billion in damages each, more than five times the rate of 100 years ag