We Are Responding to
Hurricane Helene
On September 26, Hurricane Helene slammed into the Florida Panhandle as a powerful Category 4 storm, packing sustained winds of 130 miles per hour, creating storm surges as high as 20 feet and bringing catastrophic levels of rainfall and flooding to the Southeast region of the United States.
The unusually large size and strength of the hurricane mean that the storm will pose significant risks for the entire Southeast, which has already received significant rainfall recently. Florida, Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas and Virginia have all declared states of emergencies.
International Medical Corps, a pre-vetted responder with Florida, sent an emergency response team to the state before Helene made landfall to coordinate efforts with the Department of Health and local partners.
Our Response to Hurricane Helene
Hurricane Helene—the eighth named storm and fifth hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season—hit the Yucatán Peninsula on September 24 as a tropical storm, then gained strength as it passed across the Gulf of Mexico toward the United States. States of emergency have been declared throughout the Southeast, along with a number of mandatory evacuation orders in coastal communities in Florida.
Storms of this strength and scale have a profound effect on infrastructure and the ability to provide healthcare services. Hospitals and healthcare facilities, including long-term care facilities, have been working to prepare for power and water disruptions caused by the storm, while communities and individuals—especially those with chronic conditions who rely on powered health machines—also have been bracing for the storm.
To help Floridians prepare, International Medical Corps deployed a small team to the state on Wednesday to coordinate closely with the Department of Health. In addition to prepositioning medical equipment and supplies, we are coordinating efforts with primary-care associations and federally qualified health center (FQHCs) partners throughout the Southeast United States. We will report more on our response activities as the situation develops.
So far in 2024, International Medical Corps has deployed teams in response to Hurricane Beryl in Texas and Jamaica, to Hurricane Debby in South Carolina and to Hurricane Ernesto in Puerto Rico. We also provided support to partners in Louisiana in response to Hurricane Francine.
International Medical Corps has been an emergency responder in the United States and Caribbean since 2005, when we partnered with local community clinics overwhelmed by Hurricane Katrina. In the US, International Medical Corps works with national, state and local partners in the healthcare system to address the significant challenges that face domestic healthcare services and deploys emergency response teams in response to disasters.
Across the Caribbean and the US, International Medical Corps was a first responder during 2010’s Haiti earthquake; 2012’s Superstorm Sandy; 2016’s Hurricane Matthew in Haiti; 2017’s Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and Dominica; 2018’s Hurricane Michael in Florida; 2019’s Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas; 2020’s earthquakes in Puerto Rico; and 2021’s Hurricane Ida, 2022’s Hurricane Ian and 2023’s Hurricane Idalia in Florida, among other emergency response efforts. Over the past seven years, International Medical Corps has engaged partner networks of more than 275 hospitals, clinics and health-related facilities and NGOs across 18 states and territories, supporting more than 6 million patients and healthcare providers in the US.
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