USACE Hurricane Helene Response

/ / /

Composite imagery from satellites show Hurricane Helene in the Gulf of Mexico as it approaches the Florida's coastline on Sept. 26, 2024 (Courtesy NOAA imagery) — Hurricane Helene Response

Florida Response

North Carolina Response

Tennessee Response

a Soldier and a USACE employee stand next to a river with a bridge in the background. The USACE employee has a pad of paper in his hand and is writing on it.

A man in a hard hat and reflective vests looks at a damaged electrical panel.

Two men stand on a walkway above wastewater holding tanks filled with brown water and woody debris.

Two men wearing hard hats and safety vests stand above a wastewater treatment container that is full of brown water.

Two men in protective gear look at debris piled along the side of the roadway.

A man in protective gear stands on the side of the road looking at a large amount debris piled along the side of it.

Four men are seated around a small table as they discuss the status of response efforts for Hurricane Helene.

Two men stand on a wooden dock looking over a lake filled with debris.

Three men stand in front of a fire station. One is looking at paperwork while the other two are looking off into the distance.

Two men look at an electrical opened electrical box. The men are wearing hard hats and reflective vests

A man stands on a bridge looking over the river and the debris piled on either side.

Two men stand looking at large debris piles.

Three men inspect a large generator at night.

A USACE Employee stands in the center of an intersection Debris is surrounding him.

Vernon Griffin with the Galveston District safety and occupational health office and Chris Sibert with the Honolulu District serving as quality assurance for the temporary emergency power team works with contractors during a installation of two generators for the City of Henderson Hendersonville Wastewater Treatment Facility in Hendersonville, North Carolina, Oct. 4, 2024. USACE continues to work in partnership with local, state, and federal agencies to support Hurricane Helene response efforts. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers video by Charles Delano)

An Army Soldier points to a map of North Carolina

Two Soldiers stand next to each other while talking to a USACE employee.

a group of individuals stand near each other as they talk.

A man stands on a road taking picture of a tree down along the side of the roadway.

A man sits in the back of a small airplane looking out the window at the land below

Three men talk at a table, one man is standing, while the other two are sitting.

A USACE Employee wearing a red shirt and hat, looks out the window of a small plane as it flies over portions of South Carolina.

A group of Soldiers and emergency management officials talk in a group in front of a lake where boats and debris are sitting along the shoreline.

Two Soldiers in reflective vests and hard hats stand next to a boat ramp where debris can be seen floating in the water.

A group of individuals walk along a roadway talking.

Lt. Col. Robert Green, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District Commander and Thomas Herbert, USACE Nashville District Project Manager, engaged with the Unicoi County, Tennessee Emergency Management Director Jimmy Erwin and a Tennessee Emergency Management Agency representative, Oct. 1. The county suffered major damage to infrastructure, homes and facilities due to heavy rain and flooding caused by Hurricane Helene.

A USACE employee stands on a road that has been impacted by a landslide. The man's back is to the camera as he takes pictures of the damage.

Two soldiers stand next to a large vehicle. The soldiers are wearing hard hats and safety vests over the camouflage uniforms.

A USACE Employee stands in the middle of a road that had been flooded. The man is taking pictures with a cell phone camera of the area.

A USACE Employee in a safety vest stands on the edge of a creek bed filled with debris from recent flooding.

A group of USACE employees walk towards a set of Generators which are prepared for deployment to areas in North Carolina impacted by Hurricane Helene

Two USACE Employees look at a group of generators that are positioned to be deployed to areas hit by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.

individuals seated in a large conference room look at large screens on the wall displaying the state of Florida and status information for different aspects of the pending storm impacts on USACE projects.

COL Bowman coordinating with local officials after Hurricane Helene

USACE Coordinating with local residents after Hurricane Helene.

USACE Coordinating with local agencies after Hurricane Helene.

USACE's number one priority continues to be the life, health, and safety of all who are affected by Hurricane Helene.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working in partnership with the local, state, and federal response to the Hurricane Helene. More than 260 USACE personnel are deployed, coordinating with partners in the affected areas. Additionally, around 65 USACE personnel are supporting response efforts via reach-back, and USACE has more than 215 contractor personnel deployed.

Temporary Emergency Power personnel are at a staging bases in North Carolina and Georgia with generators and equipment, postured to provide support. The temporary power team in N.C. is providing comprehensive power assessments evaluating the extent of outages to facilitate rapid recovery. One of the first generator installs in the state was at a wastewater treatment facility in Hendersonville, NC on October 4. Personnel continue power assessments. Assessments are inspections of existing connection points to determine serviceability and to expedite generator installations.

A potable water task force was formed to conduct field investigations and provide technical assistance to local and state government agencies outside of the declared counties. Task Force Potable Water will work closely with the task force that is conducting water/wastewater assessments.

Subject matter experts (SMEs) in Debris Removal have been deployed to South Carolina to provide technical assistance. In North Carolina Debris Removal SME's are providing technical assistance and coordinating the scope of potential Debris Removal missions for impacted areas. In Florida, debris personnel continue to conduct windshield assessments.

USACE is deploying SMEs for Water/Wastewater management and SMEs for road/bridge inspections. Assessment and inspection personnel will look at critical infrastructure impacted by the storm.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers brings unique capabilities to emergency responses, but we are just one piece of a much larger Army and DoD team working to support our federal, state, and local partners.

We encourage everyone to follow the guidance from their local emergency management officials.

Federal Emergency Management Response Site

FEMA Rumor and Response
Learn how the U.S. government is responding to Hurricane Helene.

Contractor Information

Contractors, please go to our Capabilities Submission Page to inform USACE about the capabilities you could bring to the disaster response efforts. Also, please refer to our Contracting in a Disaster Page for further information on how to be a part of the response efforts.

Businesses and individual contractors interested in doing business with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should take the first step of registering with the System for Award Management (SAM) at https://sam.gov/SAM/pages/public/index.jsf
The SAM.gov solicitation and contract award system is used by the Corps and many, many other federal agencies for publishing solicitations and awarding contracts. The Corps draws on the pool of SAM.gov registered businesses to award the contracts necessary to accomplish its missions, including post-storm restoration work.
Small businesses may be particularly interested in contracting opportunities available through the HQ USACE Small Business Office. Information and points of contact may be found at https://www.usace.army.mil/Business-With-Us/Small-Business/. Subcontracting opportunities usually result through partnerships with larger companies. Firms interested in pursuing such possibilities can find information from the U.S. Small Business Association at https://www.sba.gov.

Hurricane Helene Response

Florida Response

North Carolina Response

Tennessee Response

Latest News

USACE Installs First Generators

Corps provides regulatory info for North Carolina flood response

Louisville District deploys debris team in support of Hurricane Helene recovery

Corps provides regulatory info for Tennessee flood response

Corps of Engineers Monitors Impact of Hurricane Helene on Cumberland River Basin

Federal Emergency Management Response Site

Contractor Information