TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—With Hurricane Helene bearing down on Florida’s west coast Thursday—a catastrophic Category 3-4 storm that swamped portions of Mexico—credit unions were making preparations, closing early, gathering supplies and stocking up on sandbags, the League of Southeastern Credit Unions reported.
“We're battening down the hatches, preparing and waiting,” LSCU President Samantha Beeler told CUToday.info late Thursday afternoon.
The storm Thursday was expected to hit Florida’s west coast and move far inland, with FEMA warning people about flash flooding in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Due to Helene’s massive size the National Hurricane Center warned about the significant risk of a “life-threatening storm surge” along the entire west coast of the Florida Peninsula, as well as Florida’s Big Bend region.
Memories Of Ian
Beeler shared her concerns, comparing what is happening with Helene to what she encountered with Hurricane Ian when she joined the league in 2022.
“It was a very powerful storm, and it hit in a very similar part of Florida. Actually, Ian was not as strong of a storm as was anticipated,” she recalled. “And like most traditional hurricanes, it petered out as it moved inland.”
However, Helene, according to news reports, is expected to maintain strength as it moves away from the coast.
“I am concerned for, of course, Florida, where it makes landfall,” Beeler said. “But then, also for most of Georgia, as Helene will travel through that state with hurricane strength.”
Samantha Beeler
She said credit unions are “appropriately prioritizing their employee and member safety. We've seen a number of them close early yesterday. But many are fully closed today.”
Staff Gather Essentials
Beeler said many CUs Wednesday closed early to let staff gather supplies.
“Because it's not just about getting off the roads when the weather is bad,” she said. “It's about making sure you grab some sandbags, get water and some basic staples for your family. We're pretty much guaranteed of power outages, and we have more than 42 million people in our three states under a storm warning from National Weather Service.”
Helene, Beeler reminded, was expected to strike land overnight.
“That is the unfortunate part. Hitting overnight creates additional chaos, especially for first responders,” she said. “This is the third time in three years that Hurricanes have targeted this same area. We saw a credit union last year lose their entire roof. Helene will bring strong winds, 100 to 132 miles per hour, they say. There will be structural damage to homes and buildings. But most credit unions are built to commercial grade, and Florida has really strict building standards.”’
LSCU Offices
LSCU’s Birmingham, Ala., office, Beeler said, will likely see hurricane-force winds.
“In Florida, our Tallahassee office has closed for the storm,” she said. “Our foundation has always provided generators and basic supplies to credit unions and their employees. Also, once the roads are cleared and first responders have had time to get to people in need, we're going to mobilize our team to get down to credit unions who need us. We have our Southeastern Disaster Coordinating Council, and we work in partnership with the National Credit Union Foundation. Friday morning we're going to make grant applications available to credit unions that need resources.”
Beeler called many of the hurricanes that have hit the southeast “tragic and scary.”
“But the silver lining every time is watching the cooperative movement come together and help each other out—that's part of the cooperative DNA,” she said.
Credit unions wishing to donate to the Southeastern Credit Union Foundation Disaster Relief Fund, click here.