2.  A massive amount of people in NC were affected by Hurricane Helene, with an estimated 16% or 1,760,064 people being affected (1). Overwhelmingly it was the socially vulnerable that were most affected by Hurricane Helene. The area affected by the hurricane according to NC and Federal statistics is disproportionately old, poor, rural,  and disabled. Approximately 64% (1) of the affected population in NC is from an unincorporated community., many of which do not have robust or systemic recovery/development infrastructure. The impact to these communities are additionally tied to their lower economic attainment, with the areas most affected being very poor  with lower community resistance compared to the rest of NC (2). 15.4% of the affected population lived in a mobile home compared to 12% for the rest of NC (2). 15.9% of the affected population had some sort of disability compared with the 13.5% for the rest of the state (2). 21.9% of the affected were over 65 years of age compared with a state average of 17.4% (2). Finally, in affected populations 22.6% of the population had 3 or more components of social vulnerability compared with 20.5% for the rest of the state. Overall, the areas that have been affected within NC are some of those least equipped to handle this disaster.

Sources: 1. https://www.osbm.nc.gov/blog/2024/10/07/insight-population-hurricane-helenes-path 2. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2024/10/hurricane-helene.html