Former Governor: A year from Helene, I remember the power of community coming together | Opinion
September 27 marked one year since Hurricane Helene struck North Carolina. The storm was merciless. It took homes, shattered businesses and left families standing on their front lawns staring at what felt like an unrecognizable world. Yet even in those darkest hours, I remember something else rising just as quickly as the waters did: community.
Neighbors showed up with chainsaws and casseroles. Strangers cleared roads so ambulances could get through. Churches opened their doors to anyone who needed a roof, no questions asked. I have been in and around public service for decades, and I have rarely seen so many people push past their own hardship to care for someone else.
Community is made of more than individuals. Businesses stepped forward in ways that were as unexpected as they were lifesaving. That deserves to be remembered too.
Take Food Lion, for instance. Within 48 hours of landfall, their trucks were delivering bottled water and ready-to-eat meals to shelters from Asheville to Raleigh.
Another example came from Lowe’s, headquartered right here in North Carolina. Their stores set up command centers to get tarps, chainsaws and generators into the hands of people who desperately needed them. Employees in storm-hit towns even stayed overnight in their stores to make sure supplies were ready as soon as the doors could open again.
HCA Healthcare also made a critical difference. When hospitals in the western part of our state faced overwhelming demand, HCA opened up its regional resources and moved staff into place to keep emergency rooms functioning. They provided mental health counselors, mobile clinics and even housing for displaced employees. In the weeks that followed, their actions kept care accessible for thousands of families who had nowhere else to turn.
Nonprofits like Samaritan’s Purse and the Salvation Army sprang into action immediately, providing infrastructure, food, medical care and counselors to those affected by the storm.
There will always be those who argue that disaster recovery is the sole responsibility of government. I understand the instinct. But having been in the thick of it, I can tell you no single agency, no matter how well funded, can shoulder the entire burden. Recovery takes an all-hands approach. Businesses, nonprofits, neighbors and, yes, government, moving together.
There are things we can do to better prepare next time. We should work with federal officials to consider rating hurricane strength not just by windspeed, but by anticipated rainfall and flooding impacts. We should require training of all elected mayors and local emergency management officials, in conjunction with state emergency personnel, to simulate large-scale disasters like Helene. The private sector and hospitals should be included in those simulations so everyone knows what to do in a worst scenario. And we should examine our protocols for military activation to build temporary structures like bridges so that assistance comes quicker when lives are on the line.
I am happy that Gov. Josh Stein has asked Sharon Decker, who served as commerce secretary in my administration, to lead the state’s efforts around Helene relief. Steady leadership is still needed for long-term recovery.
Western North Carolina showed the world last year that resilience is lived every day in the way people pull each other up when the waters rise. The anniversary of Hurricane Helene should be about lifting up the examples that showed us at our best.
As we look ahead, let us commit to carrying those lessons forward. Let us encourage our businesses to keep building a culture of service, not only when the wind howls but in every season. Let us hold on to that sense of shared responsibility that made strangers feel like kin.
Because storms will come again. What matters is how we choose to meet them.
Pat McCrory is the former governor of North Carolina, serving from 2013 to 2017.
This story was originally published September 27, 2025 at 5:00 AM.