Hurricane Helene killed at least 230 people across six states, and many people are still missing in North Carolina. It's the second deadliest storm in the U.S. in the past century after Katrina.
Helene also disrupted two mines in North Carolina that produce a material used to make semiconductors.
“Semi-conductors are basically the brains of all the electronic devices that we use,” said Zachary Collier, an assistant professor of management at Radford University. Phones, laptops, cars and airplanes all use semiconductors, and quartz is necessary for all these technologies.
There are only a few places in the world where quartz can be mined, and Spruce Pine is the largest supplier. The area also contains the highest quality quartz, according to economist Ed Conway, who spoke on NPR’s All Things Considered. Flooding from Helene dropped two feet of rain on Spruce Pine, North Carolina in late September, and both quartz mines in the area closed.
One of the companies, the Quartz Corp, said they don’t know when they will resume mining, but explained they still continue to supply quartz to the supply chain by sourcing from other sites. “We added more focus on our resilience planning post-Covid. As a result, we have established strong levels of feed stock in Norway to supply our purification operations,” the company said in a statement, adding that they are focused on helping local communities in Mitchell County rebuild their infrastructure.
A second company that operates a mine in this town, called Sibelco, reopened recently, which Collier said is a hopeful sign that the long term impacts won’t be too devastating on the semiconductor industry. That company said they’ve established a foundation to support local efforts to rebuild after flooding from Helene.
Collier said this event, even though it’s likely a temporary disruption to the supply chain, can be a moment for manufacturing companies to learn from, as they work to be less vulnerable from disasters in the future.
“Organizations need to be able to have the capability to absorb a disruption and bounce back quickly,” Collier said. In addition to natural disasters, Collier points out that wars, and global pandemics, can also throw supply chains into chaos.
He added companies that rely on raw materials that are sourced from a limited number of sites may benefit from storing material, or holding inventory, to be able to continue producing at times like these, when the supply chain is affected by unforeseeable events.