Companies mining high-purity quartz in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, have paused operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. The quartz is a critical component of the chip-making process — and it’s only found in Spruce Pine.

As the death toll from Helene continued to rise, the city of Asheville in western North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains was picking up the pieces from the devastating storm.Water systems were down Tuesday and would likely take weeks to repair,