(NewsNation) — After causing widespread death and destruction in six states, Hurricane Helene is also having a major effect on the supply chain, according to media reports.
The health and technology industries in particular are facing challenges because of the intense damage in North Carolina, one of the places hit hardest by Helene.
Altogether, the massive storm killed 215 people, making it the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland United States since Katrina in 2005. Many still remain unaccounted for, and are left without power, water and cell phone service.
Hospitals see IV fluid shortage after Helene
Baxter International makes intravenous fluids for a majority of hospitals in the United States. Because of flooding from Helene, its North Cove site in Marion, North Carolina, is currently closed.
Although company officials say Baxter implemented a hurricane preparedness plan, heavy rain and storm surges caused a levee breach, leading to water permeating the site in Marion.
“The company is working around the clock in close coordination with local, state and federal officials to assess the extent of the damage and implement a plan to bring the plant back online as quickly as possible to help mitigate supply disruption to patients,” Baxter said in a statement.
Although Baxter said it looks forward to returning to full operations in the future, “there are many components to the recovery process given the nature of sterile drug manufacturing.” As a result, it does not have a timeline for when the North Cove site operations will be fully back up and running.
Several hospitals across the country are now reportedly getting ready for a possible IV fluid shortage. The Food and Drug Administration has been working with hospitals to “confirm how much product was recently released for distribution, or may be available at wholesalers, and provide any resources and assistance,” the California Hospital Association said.
Dr. Paul Biddinger, chief preparedness and continuity officer at Mass General Brigham in Boston, said in a conference call Thursday that Baxter sent letters to hospitals telling them that they would only be able to send out 40% of what they normally receive for IV fluid shipments. To treat patients while still conserving fluid supplies, Mass General Brigham is: switching to using oral hydration for patients who are healthy enough, and not discarding partially used IV fluid bags when patients are moved to a different part of the facility, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Mike Waldt, pharmacy system director for North Memorial in Minnesota, told KSTP they may have to get “a little bit more creative” as they, too, try to conserve supplies.
“All of the options are going to be on the table as far as different ways that we provide different therapies to our patients,” he said to the news station.
Helene shuts down quartz manufacturing facilities
Two North Carolina facilities that manufacture high-purity quartz required to make semiconductors, which power smartphones, cars and more, were shut down by Helene.
Sibelco and The Quartz Corp, both located in Spruce Pine, had paused operations before the storm, but now, because of all the damage, neither have a set reopening date.
The quartz made in Spruce Pine is used to manufacture equipment needed to make silicon chips that underpin digital devices, Vince Beiser author of “The World in a Grain,” said in an email to the Associated Press.
“To make silicon chips, you need to first melt down a highly-purified material called polysilicon. That can only be done in crucibles that are themselves made of a material so pure it will not react chemically with the polysilicon and is also able to withstand enormous heat,” Beiser told the AP. The best material for these crucibles? Ultra-pure quartz — the kind found in Spruce Pine.
Since the storm, Sibelco has been working to confirm all of its employees are safe. Some of them, according to a statement, were “unreachable” in the days after the storm because of power outages and communication challenges. While all of Sibelco’s employees and contractors have now been accounted for, an initial assessment indicated operating facilities in the Spruce Pine region have sustained minor damage. More detailed assessments are ongoing, Sibelco said, but teams are on-site to do cleanup and repair activities.
Progress on the repair of power lines leading to Sibelco plants has progressed significantly.
“Restoring power remains crucial to resuming our operations,” Sibelco wrote, adding that its final product stock was not affected by Helene. “We are working closely with our customers to assess their needs and plan the restart of product shipments as soon as we can.”
Likewise, the Quartz Corp wrote Wednesday that all of its employees are safe. Preliminary inspections show damage is mostly concentrated around ancillary units.
Although resuming operations depends on rebuilding local infrastructure, Quartz Corp said it is “confident in our ability to avoid any supply disruption” for customers.
“We operate a long supply chain and like many organizations, we added more focus on our resilience planning post-Covid,” Quartz Corp wrote. “As a result, we have established strong levels of feedstock in Norway to supply our purification operations. Coupled with safety stocks of finished products and those that exist at different levels throughout the supply chain, we do not anticipate any critical situation for our downstream industries in the short or medium term.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.