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Figure 3.1 Hurricane Floyd's Impact Oil Business 38 Travel and tourism have also become important economic drivers in Xorth Carolina, The mountain region of western North Carolina and the coastal region have become popular destinations for growing numbers of retirees from across the natinn, The pnpulation growth rates of communities like Wilmington and Boone are among the highest in the state, By contf"JSt, the state's traditional manufacturing and agricultural industries have declined substantially in gro\l1h and employment in the past decade, reflecting the national trend. An analysis of the 6i counties that were most impacted by Hurricane Floyd revC"J.!s a region under economic distress, Generally speaking, the counties can be characterized as having lower per capita incomes, higher unemploymeut, and significantly slower population grol>1h relative to the rest of the stale, Impact of Hurricane Floyd on the Business Sector In order to better gauge the economic impact of Hurricane Floyd on the state and affected communities, FE~H rel!uested that the Economic Development Administration (EDA) undertake an assessment of busi- nesses, their needs and their priorities for recovery. The findings of the study, Economic ImptKt Assessmenl of Hurricane Floyd mirrored the experience of previous disasters - small businesses sustained the greatesl losses, and have substantially fewer resources to support business resumption and recovery, Among the findings of the study: Impacts by Business Size. There are approximately 96,500 businesses in the 6i counties (delineated in the EDA survey) that were most impacted by Hurricane Floyd, Damages were reported for small (1-9 employees), medium (10-99 employees), and large businesses (100 or more employees), The Business Impact Survey indicates: Nature of the Business Impacts . An estimated is percent of small businesses shut down at least temporarily as a result of Hurricane Floyd. . The length of the shutdowns was an average of 3,5 days for businesses in the leasl impacted counties, and an average of 8.5 days in the 14 counties \lith the most damage, . In sevef"J.! of most impacted counties, the Centf"J.! Business District (CBD) became one of the '\ictims", \lith as many as is percent of the businesses sustaining moderate to major damage, Among the most severely impacted CBDs include Emerald Island, Carteret County (149 businesses); TO\ll1 of Kinston, Lenoir County (200 businesses); Tarboro (48 businesses); and PrincClille, Edgecomb County (33 businesses). 5.278 Medium Businesses (21%) 308 Large Businesses (1 %) . While many businesses suffered economic losses from direct floodwater damage, more than twice as many businesses surveyed indicated that business disruption occurred as a result of indirect economic impacts, These include lack of employee's accessibility to the business, loss of electric power and water supply, damage to snpplier companies, and other indirecl losses,