Two years after Hurricane Helene, western North Carolina is converting emergency improvisation into permanent infrastructure. During the storm's aftermath, churches, fire departments, and community centers became informal supply and support nodes. Now residents and local governments are formalizing these spaces as "resilience hubs" — trusted, existing buildings equipped to keep power, water, and communication running during future disasters.
The East Asheville Library is installing solar panels, the Asheville Tool Library is teaching residents to use power tools, and the Old Fort Train Depot hosted a heat-wave planning session over ice cream. Asheville has set aside $2 million this year to shore up existing hubs, with a soft commitment of up to $10 million over the long term, according to City Manager D.K. Wesley.
A separate effort is building microgrids across the region. The first, at Beacon of Hope in Marshall — a laundromat, thrift store, and food bank — can store 68 kilowatt-hours of solar power, keeping freezers and lights running for at least a day off-grid. It is the first of 26 microgrids funded by a $5 million state grant, with 24 serving essential facilities and two mounted on trailers for mobile response.
McKenzie Jones of the Urban Sustainability Directors Network notes that resilience doesn't require a designated hub; it lives in the skills, equipment, and connections people build beforehand. The challenge, she says, is getting those networks to work together proactively before the next disaster strikes.