"After Wilma, I was in my home when the five feet of water was still receding, and seeing my kids' baby pictures floating in my yard knocked me in the gut," Sayer recalled. "For Hurricane Irma in 2017, I ran the credit union from Tampa for seven days through our disaster recovery site in Des Moines, Iowa because this particular hurricane presented us with a different set of challenges than Wilma. Our staff couldn't find anywhere to stay. People were driving all the way up to Atlanta to find the nearest hotel with vacancies."

She noted that about 6% of the Keys population has moved away. Although the credit union has lost some members, it has not been anything outside of normal member attrition.

What concerns Sayer, however, is the future.

"I always say to people, 'We can argue about climate change, but you can't argue with me about sea levels rising,'" she said. "I think for me, personally, I have a bigger concern about the long-time effects of climate change as sea and water levels rise than I do about [natural disaster] events because we can recover from events. If [sea and water level] continue to rise at the rate that I see them, then that's going to be a bigger issue over the next 20 years. If you start to see longer term events turn into longer term effects – the rise of sea levels being one of them – then I think you'll start to see more people leave [the area], and there have been people leaving."

From his credit union office window in Blountstown, blue tarps draped over the tops of homes and businesses still dominate the landscape as far as Thomas Flowers' eyes can see, nine months after Hurricane Michael devastated Florida's Panhandle.

"Ninety-five percent of Calhoun County's homes were damaged, destroyed, however you want to call it – roofs gone," Flowers, president/CEO of the $62.5 million Calhoun-Liberty Employees Credit Union, said. "I honestly think it changes you every day. I mean it affects how you think and what you think about every day. I had to replace the roof on my house, so you understand when a member is sitting in front of you that their insurance adjuster still hasn't settled on their home and they don't know what they are going to do. They're on their fifth or sixth tarp on top of their house."

The credit union's employees have become more than finance professionals for members, Flowers said – they have become personal counselors as they've helped members call their insurance companies again, or helped members find the aide or the support they need.

Anxiety and other raw emotions surface when a thunderstorm occurs, Flowers said, because it brings back bad memories of Hurricane Michael's path of destruction.

To help employees manage their emotions when they returned to work following last year's wildfires, Teri J. Davis, president/CEO of the $237 million Members 1st Credit Union in Redding, Calif., hired professional counselors to be available for employees. In addition to dealing with their own issues in recovering from the natural disaster, employees were listening to upsetting stories from members who lost their homes or didn't know whether their homes were   still standing.

"I was evacuated myself and not really entirely sure about the status of my home. It was emotionally draining and I'm sure it was for everyone else," Davis said. So the day after the disaster, she arranged for breakfast and lunch to be delivered to the branches, and also allowed employees to bring their children to work temporarily.

Robert Eyler, a board member for the $4.5 billion Redwood Credit Union in Santa Rosa, Calif., and chair of economics at Sonoma State University, has been evaluating what could be the short- and long-term economic impact from the 2017 and 2018 California wildfires.

After the wildfires damaged or destroyed thousands of homes and businesses in Sonoma and Napa counties and surrounding areas during the fall of 2017, Eyler estimated about 65% of people who lost their homes are intending to rebuild, while an estimated 35% are either still making a longer term decision or leaving.

While the area continues to rebound over the last year and a half, Eyler noted the bigger issue longer term is whether there will be enough homes rebuilt to keep up with potential population growth five or 10 years from now, and how many working families will leave the area.

"What we are seeing in terms of dynamics locally is that people are buying fire-affected lots and homes on spec, and turning them into rentals with the idea that people are still going to be attracted to this area for tourism or work reasons and they may not want to buy a home," he said. "One of the biggest socioeconomic questions this community is going to face, and where the effects can start to dribble down to credit unions being affected by members and by employees, is that they may decide they cannot afford to stick around this area because of the contraction in the housing supply, and other marginal decisions you make when you decide to live or work in a place."

The wildfire that hit northern California in November 2018 nearly destroyed the town of Paradise and scorched other nearby communities in Butte County. The fire consumed nearly 19,000 structures and claimed 85 lives.

"[Paradise] lost about 11% of their housing stock and about 15% of their population – a relatively large percentage – is now on the move to one place or another," Eyler said. "How many will rebuild in the short term is still a very open question. So for credit unions in Butte County, the issues are much more complex, deep and voluminous. We're still holding out hope that the town of Paradise and the county of Butte are able to recover the best way they can, but it might take a lot more time."

But if climate scientists are right, time and hope may not be enough in the years to come.

Since 2000, 15 of the state's 20 largest wildfires have occurred during California's hottest and driest years over the last two decades due to climate change, according to a November 2018 National Geographic article that cited climate scientists.

The article ominously noted, "But climate change is driving a clear trend: When wildfires happen in California, they have a better chance of growing large and destructive."