It’s been almost three months since Hurricane Helene carved a 600-mile path of destruction, causing outages for more than 3.4 million Duke Energy customers and launching one of the largest recovery efforts in company history.
In western North Carolina – a region the storm rendered unrecognizable – power has been restored and the water is once again drinkable. The holiday markets have returned, and the iconic 55-foot Norway spruce illuminates the front lawn of the Biltmore Estate. Horse-drawn carriages stroll the downtown streets of Forest City, Morganton, Waynesville and Weaverville.
And yet profound losses and heavy hearts have made Helene an ever-present reality for the people of western North Carolina and my hometown of Asheville. The cameras and news crews have long gone, but the road to recovery stretches far ahead.
My message to the community: Getting the power back on is just one aspect of Duke Energy’s commitment to you. We’re still here, standing with you, and we want to help you stage a comeback.
Duke Energy crews continue to remove broken poles and power lines from the 10 million cubic yards of debris Helene left behind. And in the coming months, we’ll rebuild parts of the region’s grid, installing new substations and other infrastructure to replace the temporary solutions used in the wake of the storm.
We’re also providing financial assistance and other resources to those hardest hit by the storm. This work includes supporting local and regional economic development organizations as they repair and improve industrial sites, buildings and infrastructure – all essential to the area’s economic rebound.
Nonprofit partners have also helped us get our philanthropy to those who need it most. Over the last few months, Duke Energy and its foundation have designated $1.7 million for community partners focused on hurricane relief in the hardest-hit areas in North Carolina.
When we say Duke Energy powers the lives of our customers and the vitality of our communities, that applies whether those communities are exploding with growth or picking up the pieces from a historic storm.
An emotional wake
Helene’s impact on this region has felt deeply personal to me.
My parents – born and raised in Sparta, Greece – immigrated after hearing the U.S. needed tailors for its growing business class. They settled in Asheville when I was an infant, and my dad got a job at Bell’s Traditionals in Biltmore Village, hand-tailoring suits and pressing clothes with a 20-pound iron.
I have watched proudly as Asheville and the surrounding regions have grown into some of the Southeast’s top destinations. So after Helene, it was heartbreaking to see the building where my dad worked submerged under 15 feet of water and the bank where I opened my first savings account bathed in mud.
As I visited crews in the field, we passed hundreds of abandoned cars and decimated homes, steel poles doubled over like they’d taken a cosmic punch. I’m not sure I’ll ever forget the overwhelming smell of mold and rot.
But I’ll also never forget the shared purpose I saw. Across our service areas, Duke Energy crews replaced 13,300 transformers, 16,200 poles and nearly 11 million feet of wire. Some teammates lost or incurred damage to their homes, yet they were out in the field, working to restore power to their communities.
Still, there will be more storms, which is why we’re investing $70 billion over the next decade to make the grid smarter, stronger and more resilient – upgrading power lines and utility poles, placing some lines underground and installing more effective flood walls at substations. We’re also expanding our self-healing technology network, which cuts down on customer outages by detecting issues and rerouting power to other lines. More than 55% of our customers are served by self-healing and automated restoration capabilities, an increase of nearly 65% over the last two years.
Of course, self-healing technology can’t take a tree off a power line or step in when entire segments of the grid are washed away. We still need our vegetation management and lineworker teams for that important work. But where infrastructure is intact, it can help isolate the problem, often restoring power in under a minute.
The comeback
I've always loved sports and the thrill of a great comeback. As a long-suffering Boston Red Sox fan, I point to game four of the 2004 American League Championship Series. After dropping three straight games to the Yankees, the Red Sox pulled off an epic turnaround and went on to win the next eight games, sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series and ending an 86-year championship drought.
You don’t even have to like baseball to appreciate that. At one point or another, we’ve all had long odds, a mountain to climb.
My sister and her family still live in Asheville. For them and their friends, neighbors and church members, 2025 will be a year of rebuilding. It’s a privilege for Duke Energy to invest time and resources alongside them.
Because, as a native of western North Carolina, I know what my people are made of. They may be weary, but they won’t back down. They will emerge from the aftermath of Helene even stronger.
And as they do, we’ll see this treasured region stage its own historic comeback.
