As power outages, lack of water, and cell service blackouts continue in the mountains, many people are making their way to families in other parts of the states. Some college students whose families are thousands of miles away found a safe place in Charlotte on a college campus.

Some colleges in North Carolina had to evacuate their students after flooding from Helene left them without power, running water, and cell phone connectivity.

Duke’s Ridge, a new affordable housing community in Charlotte’s west side will have 52 new townhomes. Four of those will be reserved for educators in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools system.

When the lights went out in western North Carolina, communication between community members was set back decades. Meanwhile, their loved ones out east and in other states struggle to sift through a worldwide web of information to keep their families and friends informed inside the blackout zones.

Gavin Smith leads the graduate certificate program in Disaster Resilient Policy, Engineering and Design at NC State University. He says it’s a fine line of balancing local “nimbleness” and knowledge of the backroads with outside expertise and resources.

North Carolina’s attorney general is a key – and powerful – position in the state. In addition to being the state’s top lawyer, it’s also been a launch pad to the governor’s office. Two congressmen, Republican Dan Bishop and Democrat Jeff Jackson, are vying for the seat.