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.

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.