After Helene: Strategies for Building Safer and Stronger in North Carolina

In late September 2024, western North Carolina was gearing up for the region’s most important economic season of the year—autumn leaf peeping. Then Hurricane Helene stalled out over the Appalachians, bringing 60 mile-per-hour winds and as much as 20 inches of rain in a two-day period. The deluge triggered landslides that carried debris into rivers and lakes and buried homes. Waterways—already high from preceding rain—now swept over their banks, decimating homes, businesses and critical infrastructure. Even months after the water receded, wildfires erupted, fueled by downed trees and dry conditions following Helene’s impact.

Almost a year later, the region is rebuilding—and communities and businesses across the state are reckoning with the increased likelihood of extreme weather events. In June, Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability worked with the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) to bring together stakeholders from across North Carolina to develop ideas for rebuilding stronger and safer. 

Representatives from more than 25 public, private and nonprofit entities—including many based in western North Carolina—convened to collaborate on solutions and identify next steps.

"This is a pivotal moment for our state," said Marlena Byrne, acting chief resilience officer of NCDEQ’s State Resilience Office. "Helene drove home that storms are getting stronger and their impacts are reaching farther. Protecting North Carolinians is going to require smart, proactive investments to protect against future threats. We can absolutely get there, but we need everyone across government, businesses, non-profits, academia and philanthropy to collaborate in new and creative ways."

After initial rescue and clean-up efforts, the total cost of Helene recovery in North Carolina is estimated at around $60 billion. Approved federal and state disaster relief funding sit at around $6 billion, with insurance payouts and private funds making up approximately another $6 billion. All told, around 20% of the total recovery need is accounted for through these sources.

For full restoration of the region, the public and private sectors must work together to find creative solutions to fund the 80% that remains. And, to protect against future disasters, rebuilt or newly built structures must be stronger, safer and more resilient to extreme weather. This means not only thinking about how we build, but where we build so that we don’t recreate the conditions that exacerbated the effects of Hurricane Helene and other extreme weather events. Building these structures to be energy-smart through updated energy efficiency standards, energy efficient appliances, and deployment of solar and back-up battery systems can also reduce energy costs, keep the lights on during power outages and provide consistent power to community hubs during and after extreme events, which can be lifesaving during times of extreme heat and cold. 

Workshop participants raised several key ideas on how to close that funding gap—and how to build and rebuild stronger, safer and more energy-smart:

1. Enhance existing state programs: The North Carolina Insurance Underwriting Association has already established innovative insurance pools and building standards to help protect investments from extreme weather. Breaking down silos between state programs and agencies to streamline residents’ access to recovery resources could further speed and reduce costs of rebuilding. Organizations have largely found that building to improved resilience and energy standards doesn’t just help protect against damage—it’s also more economical both for them and the building owners.
2. Develop new programs or interventions: New voter-approved bonds, tax credits and loans for homeowners and builders to use resiliency measures in their structures could help fund the increased costs of building and rebuilding to resiliency standards. New small grants and resiliency certifications could also help ease the cost burden and market resilient homes.
3. Collaborate with new partners: Involving builders from the point of initial construction, especially with prefabricated and modular homes, is more cost-effective than retrofitting existing structures. Early collaboration between local governments, homeowners’ associations and builders to balance local building requirements with attainable, resilient houses and incentivize building in safer locations will encourage buy-in, especially as North Carolina’s state building code lags regional peer states in required resilient building standards.

These efforts should protect people and businesses across North Carolina—not just the communities rebuilding in the western part of the state, participants emphasized. They argued that planning processes for new development and construction should address resilience concerns up front. 

Each dollar invested in resilience measures saves an estimated $4 to $17 in avoided damages, according to research summarized by the Nicholas Institute. 

"As North Carolina faces more and more extreme weather events like Helene, proactively strengthening infrastructure, housing and communities by building, and rebuilding, to resilient standards is going to be far more cost-effective than paying for disaster recovery later," said Conor Mulderrig, special advisor for clean energy deployment and GROWNC resilience liaison with NCDEQ.  

"Just in the month or so since the workshop, many communities and businesses in the state have experienced extreme heat and catastrophic flooding," noted Colby Swanson, a partner with ADL Ventures who leads a Western NC Tech Hub team encouraging prefabrication as part of a more sustainable rebuilding effort. "I appreciate the Duke experts who have helped us spark this dialogue across many different sectors. The construction industry’s transformation is bigger than any one organization, and it will take alignment from a diverse array (big and small, private and public) of committed stakeholders."

The group identified several potential next steps:

• collaborating with the North Carolina Clean Energy Fund to develop an online tool to help people find resources for building or rebuilding
• conducting a detailed analysis of existing resilience programs and incentives available to North Carolina homeowners, renters and businesses
• examining how new financial products—such as revolving credit lines tied to performance, climate-adjusted insurance and more—could be implemented
• hosting additional dialogues to build on this momentum and engage new partners

"The June conversation generated many promising ideas and was an inspiring starting point. However, we need continued dialogue and new partnerships with state agencies, local governments, community organizations and local businesses to bring these ideas to fruition and help protect our communities and economy from the impacts of floods, fires, extreme heat and other natural hazards," said workshop organizer Lydia Olander, a program director at the Nicholas Institute and a faculty member at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. "We hope new partnerships were formed and that others will step forward to help us continue and expand this work."

###

Is your company, organization or agency interested in taking part in this effort? Contact Lydia Olander: lydia.olander@duke.edu.