Map of counties that may be impacted by Hurricane Dorian.
Credit unions in the Carolinas braced for a possible hit from Hurricane Dorian on Thursday as the National Hurricane Center extended hurricane warnings on Wednesday all along the coasts of both states.
Since last week, evacuations have been ordered in all or parts of at least 38 coastal counties from Florida to North Carolina with a combined population of eight million, excluding active-duty military personnel. Ninety-five credit unions operate in those counties with 427 branches, including 51 credit unions based there, and an estimated three million members based on branch distribution.
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In North Carolina, evacuation orders have been extended to parts of all 10 coastal counties with 838,700 residents, including about 490,000 credit union members.
If the hurricane strikes North Carolina, it will have trouble avoiding members of State Employees' Credit Union of Raleigh, N.C. ($40.6 billion in assets, 2.4 million members), the second-largest in the nation. All of its 272 branches are in North Carolina and 21 are in the 10-county area. Based on that 8% branch distribution, it has roughly 186,000 members in the affected counties.
Sandra Jones, SVP of member communications, said Wednesday that the credit union was preparing for a wider impact from the storm, including members near its headquarters in Wake County.
"Information is updating rapidly, including Tropical Storm Warnings for many additional NC counties, including Wake. Regarding our membership base, this storm has the potential to affect hundreds of thousands," she wrote in an email.
In South Carolina, evacuation orders affects of all eight coast counties, home to 1.4 million people and about 509,000 credit union members.
Flooding is a big concern there, especially in Charleston, where flooding occurs in some parts of the city even in the wake of heavy thunderstorms. With Dorian, the National Hurricane Center is predicting storm surges of up to five to eight feet fed by the storm and seasonally bigger high tides.
In Georgia, evacuation orders affect six coastal counties with a combined population of 542,000 residents and about 260,000 credit union members.
In Florida, where hurricane warnings had been lifted as of 11 a.m. Wednesday, evacuation plans affected counties with 5.2 million residents and 1.8 million credit union members.
Hurricane Dorian Churning North
About 2.8 million civilian residents and about 1.2 million credit union members live in the 24 coastal counties affected by evacuation orders in Georgia and the Carolinas (see map above for reference).
North Carolina
Population: 838,700
Estimated credit union members: 490,000
South Carolina
Population: 1.4 million
Estimated credit union members: 509,000
Georgia
Population: 542,000
Estimated credit union members: 260,000
Florida
Another 5.2 million residents and 1.8 million credit union members were in counties under evacuation orders in Florida, where hurricane warnings were lifted Wednesday.
Population: 5.2 million
Estimated credit union members: 1.8 million
Source: 2018 Census estimates, which exclude active-duty military personnel, and estimates based on branch distribution and NCUA membership data from March 2019.
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Jim DuPlessis
Jim covers economic data trends emerging for credit unions, as well as branch news and dividends.
