Hurricane Helene was a powerful Category 4 hurricane that struck the Big Bend region of Florida on September 26, 2024. While the wind and storm surge impacts were far-reaching along the Florida Gulf Coast, significant impacts stretched well inland across portions of Georgia, the Carolinas and eastern Tennessee. North Carolina was particularly hard hit due to a precursor rain event ahead of Helene’s rainfall. These two events had catastrophic consequences, resulting in multi-generational flooding that has left more than 100 people dead and a long recovery ahead.

In this Early Insights report, IBHS offers a preliminary look at impacts along the coast and those communities far from where it made landfall and poses critical questions that will guide future work and into how communities can prepare for extreme weather.