Two years after Hurricane Helene, survivors are taking lessons for the future — SkimNews
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- Asheville set aside $2 million to shore up existing resilience hubs, and City Manager D.K. Wesley made a soft long-term commitment of up to $10 million
- Beacon of Hope in Marshall became the first of 26 planned solar microgrids in western North Carolina, storing 68 kilowatt-hours and keeping its freezers and washing machines running for at least a day off-grid
- The 26-microgrid campaign is funded by a $5 million state grant from the NC Department of Environmental Quality; 24 will serve community facilities and 2 will be trailer-mounted for deployment
- GMRS radio licenses in the region jumped 130% in the year after Helene; the $35, no-test two-way system functions without cell or internet service
- Justin Hamel launched the WNC Radio Project nonprofit and installed two signal repeaters on mountaintops, allowing communication across multiple counties during Winter Storm Fern
- Quetzal Jordan's Skills Academy for Women has trained more than 500 people in chainsaw safety since Helene, with students ranging from age 18 to 75
- The Asheville Tool Library holds more than 4,000 tools and lends everything from saws to generators, though insurance prevents it from lending chainsaws
- Beacon of Hope's food pantry serves about 1,600 families weekly, with hunger up roughly 50% since last summer, underscoring the need for uninterrupted cold storage
Why it matters: Asheville's $10 million long-term pledge and the state's $5 million microgrid grant mark a shift from improvised disaster response to permanent community infrastructure — a model that could spread to other climate-vulnerable regions, though leaders acknowledge that no additional state or federal funding has materialized to expand beyond the 26 microgrids already planned.
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