Data from the North Carolina Department of Commerce showed the unemployment rate rose from 2.5% in September to 8.8% in October.

Several North Carolina counties opened warming shelters for people without heat access or who were displaced by Hurricane Helene last September. Some are enduring the cold while living in tents as they wait for more aid.

Hurricane Helene hammered the southeast at the end of September, killing at least 62 people, but the long-term damage from the storm is still being felt in places like North Carolina. There, scores of people are facing eviction as the state struggles with a combination economic-housing crisis.

December has delivered snow and biting cold, a different type of storm from Hurricane Helene, which ravaged western North Carolina in late September. Hundreds of people whose homes were destroyed are still living in campers and tents amid the cold temperatures.

Freezing temperatures are typical this time of year, but they are less than welcome in communities still recovering from Helene. Emergency management officials across the mountains have plans in place to ensure residents have a warm place to stay.