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 WCU Stories      March 7, 2025

By Matt Salerno

In the days after Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina, first responders and volunteers rushed to help their neighbors. Checking in on loved ones, restoring electricity to homes and businesses, and conducting search and rescue missions already looked like a daunting uphill battle.

This was not helped by the fact that much of the region lost cell service at the beginning of Helene and went without it for days after the storm.

Law enforcement and volunteers had to reorganize in order to meet these new hurdles and aid those in need. North Carolina Collaboratory awarded two grants to criminology and criminal justice professors at �����Ƶapp who are partnering with local agencies to document successful responses and improve preparations for future extreme weather events.

NC Collaboratory is a research funding agency that focuses on the environment, natural resources, public health, education, technology, and infrastructure in North Carolina. Since its inception in 2016, the organization has invested in over 600 research projects with a mission to serve the state through practical information and technologies.

In the wake of the hurricane, NC Collaboratory sent out a call for proposals allocating funding for universities to assist state and federal agencies with Helene-related research or relief assistance.

Sarah Jackson, assistant professor of emergency disaster management at WCU along with Leah Blackwood, from the Argonne National Laboratory, received a $11,054 grant to assess all 259 disaster declared areas affected by Hurricane Helene.

Through surveys and interviews Jackson and Blackwood will identify the areas of greatest impact and social vulnerability.

The study will compare geographical data such as rainfall and flood-mapping alongside factors surrounding the people and communities affected.

“By using this interdisciplinary approach, we will be able to provide the National Weather Service with information on how the hurricane impacted rural areas differently from urban areas,” Jackson said. “This information will further be analyzed as to how these differences affected warning and evacuation language. The

data will be used to create an action plan for the National Weather Service to help local agencies prepare for future disaster risks.”

Andy Hansen, an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at WCU, received a $11,835 grant to perform a case study of law enforcement disaster response.

“Often law enforcement and other agencies are tasked with preparing for natural disasters based upon information provided by others,” Hansen said. “Documenting the challenges that law enforcement faced as well as what actions were successful or could be improved will lay the groundwork for future disaster response planning that will save lives.”

Hansen will conduct interviews with the Canton Police Department and the NC State Highway Patrol to document the successes and failures in disaster planning, distribution of supplies and services, and the coordination of these efforts between different agencies. This case study will document lessons learned by the two agencies to improve disaster response for future weather events in the region and beyond.

By publishing the experiences of individuals’ experiences in response to Hurricane Helene, the lessons learned from a singular event can reach a broad and diverse audience who will be able to benefit from the experiences of individuals in the case study.

Responding to natural disasters is a large-scale, coordinated effort that in the case of Helene involved agencies such as FEMA, the National Guard, local and state law enforcement, fire departments, local organizations, and volunteers from within the community.

Each county and town have different challenges and needs based on a variety of factors. Thanks to NC Collaboratory, Jackson, and Hansen, first responders will be even more prepared to meet these needs in the future.