When extreme weather hits, such as a hurricane, the effects can be devastating. Lives and homes can be lost. Food and clean water can be difficult to find.
But, as an investigation from NC Newsline shows, there's another, often-overlooked loss that can come from these storms: child care.
What's happening?
In her report, journalist Sara Murphy looked at how Hurricane Helene impacted child care across western North Carolina. The Category 4 storm pummeled the southeast last year, resulting in at least 250 fatalities, making it the deadliest storm in the United States since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Six months after the storm hit, the effects are still being felt, especially for those who use or operate child care centers. More than 55 centers were damaged in the storm, and 10 of those remained closed as of March.
"It's a double-edged sword because the providers have to get back to work or they can't pay their bills," Alissa Rhodes, a mother and child care provider, told NC Newsline. "But then at the same time, they need to take care of themselves."
And for those providers that have reopened, the child care experience may have changed, as they are now figuring out how to best help children deal with the trauma they experienced in the storm.
"I've spoken to many early childhood educators who tell me, we can no longer play rain sounds during nap time, because that's not a safe, comforting sound for children anymore," Murphy said in an interview about her article.
Why is this concerning?
Anything that plays a role in the future of children is obviously important, but what could make this more vital is the increasing frequency with which these types of extreme weather events are occurring.
As more heat-trapping gases are trapped in our atmosphere, not only does the planet warm, but events such as hurricanes, droughts, and tornadoes occur more frequently and with more severity.
According to a Stanford University survey, roughly 60% of parents and early childhood caregivers said they had gone through at least one extreme weather event since 2022.
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Move somewhere else 🌎 "Hurricane Helene and the storms that were happening in the region anyway have all been amplified by the fact that the air is warmer and can hold more moisture," climate researcher Ben Clarke said.
What's being done about hurricanes and early childhood education?
Murphy details the funding issues that have faced early childhood education in western North Carolina for years before Helene, a problem that has only become worse since the storm. Experts believe this should be one of the top priorities for state and federal aid after an extreme storm.
"Having early care and education as part of a recovery strategy is … one of the first things that I think really should happen," Bradford Wiles, an early childhood development specialist at Kansas State University, told NC Newsline. "That alleviates not only the stress and difficulty of trying to parent in that time, but really frees up the adults to help their entire community recover."
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