By Ray Birch
ASHEVILLE, N.C.—Shelly Fender was “stunned” at what she saw when Hurricane Helene swept through Asheville, N.C., devastating the town with high winds and leaving historic flooding in its wake.
The CEO of the $7-million Arcade CU told CUToday.info Monday she had never encountered a storm like Helene, and thought she never would.
“I mean, I have never seen a hurricane make it this far inland. It was horrific,” she said about the Hurricane that killed more than 90 people.
Fender’s credit union has been fortunate to escape floodwaters, as it sits on land above where water has engulfed the city, leaving many people trapped in their homes.
Asheville flooding.
“We’re also fortunate, in that our one office is located in the federal building here, which is built well,” she said. “But we are working today with no power and no water.”
Fender said she is worried about other credit union offices in Asheville.
“We are working with limited staff, basically me right now, as none of them can make it to work,” said Fender, who added she negotiated her way past downed trees and power lines, and flooding, to find her way to the credit union from her home about 20 miles away. Fender’s home, too, has no power or water, and food is limited in the city.
Cut Off From Civilization
The most distressing aspect of the situation in Asheville, explained Fender, is not being able to know more—more about members who need help, when power might be restored, and if any of her friends and staff are injured or in trouble.
“That is the thing, we’re just basically cut off from most communications, cut off from civilization,” Fender said, answering her land line at the CU. “Cell phone towers are not working….”
That has made it virtually impossible, Fender said, for members to contact the credit union for help.
“But we are standing by, with emergency loans, anything we can do,” she said.
Due to the difficulty of driving to the office, and not knowing if any new obstacles have been created on roads, Fender said Monday she considered staying at the credit union overnight.
“But we don’t have a bed, so, I’ll go home. Overall, we are very blessed, the credit union is, to be where we are today,” she said. “But think of it, who would ever expect huge flooding in a mountain town? This is unbelievable.”
Helene’s Reach And Size
Greenville, S.C.
South of Asheville, in Greenville, S.C., $455-million Greenville FCU shared similar observations about Helene.
SVP of Marketing Catherine James told CUToday.info her organization was shocked by the reach and size of Helene.
“It’s really an historic event,” James said. “I have lived in Greenville my entire life, which is long enough for me to have seen when Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston and sent spin-off tornadoes up into the state. And that was bad. But we have never seen this sort of devastation, that covers such a wide area of the country. It's impacting most of the upper part of our state, western North Carolina, parts of Tennessee and Georgia. It’s just an unbelievably large area of devastation.”
James acknowledged that Greenville was not as hard hit as Asheville, and that the major issue with her CU’s four branches has been power outages. She said two branches still remain closed due to the outages, while two have reopened—one on generator power. One of the offices sustained wind damage to the drive-through, James said.
Meanwhile, the credit union has been working with members who have been able to reach the CU offices remotely or in-person, providing aid based on each individual’s situation. The organization, James added, is ready for an inflow of deposits from insurance claims.
“We’re ready to process those,” she said.
League Steps In
The Carolinas Credit Union League, in coordination with the Carolinas Credit Union Foundation, reported it is receiving and responding to reports from member credit unions affected by the storm.
Credit unions in the Carolinas have reported disruptions ranging from flooding to power outages to structural damage at select branches and administrative offices with the greatest impact occurring in the Upstate region of South Carolina and in western North Carolina, the league said.
“Widespread power outages are presenting the greatest challenges to credit unions in South Carolina’s Upstate at this point,” said league President and CEO Dan Schline. “The damage appears to be most severe in western North Carolina, where catastrophic flooding and landslides have decimated entire communities. These communities are without power, access to drinking water, and many residents are accessing shelters.”
Not Enough Known Yet
“We’re still learning more about all of the impact on credit union operations,” Schline continued. “We do know that credit unions are, of course, actively reaching out to help and support the communities they serve. It will be a long road to recovery and the league will be working side by side with the Carolinas Foundation to support credit union employees that need assistance.”
The Carolinas Credit Union Foundation’s Disaster Relief Fund is providing aid for credit unions, employees and volunteers directly impacted by Hurricane Helene, the league said.
Credit union employees and volunteers can receive grant assistance for immediate needs such as, but not limited to food, temporary shelter, housing, gas, transportation, and insurance deductibles. Also included are lodging costs due to temporary displacement, relocation costs due to evacuation mandates and personal property losses incurred that were not reimbursed by insurance, the league said.
“The need is great as we continue to hear reports from credit unions in these severely affected regions of the Carolinas,” noted Carolinas Foundation President Lauren Whaley. “Many employees are still unreachable because of power outages and lack of cell service. We are working quickly to process applications from credit union employees who have sustained damage to their home or are facing expenses because of displacement. The goal is to get impacted employees back on their feet quickly to ensure credit unions can resume full operations to serve the needs of their communities.”