We Are Responding to
Hurricane Helene

Hurricane Helene—the eighth named storm, fifth hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season and the strongest storm ever to hit Florida’s Big Bend region—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, fueled by record-high water temperatures in the Gulf. States of emergency have been declared throughout the Southeast, along with a number of mandatory evacuation orders in coastal communities in Florida. States in the Southeast remain on high alert for continued flooding and life-threatening landslides as Helene—now a tropical storm—has continued moving north through Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio.

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, worked 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 braced for impact. It’s important to keep in mind that, when combined with power outages, heatwaves can pose a serious threat to health. Parts of Florida are forecast to experience heat indices of as high as 110 degrees F in the coming weeks.

International Medical Corps’ teams are on the ground in Florida and Georgia, working with Departments of Health there to support their responses. In addition, throughout the Southeast region, we have prepositioned medical equipment and supplies, are assessing critical needs in communities and are working with our state and community clinic partners to support response and recovery efforts. Some community clinics already are using equipment we have provided to ensure continuity of healthcare services, including:

• alternate power sources;
• coolers for medicines that require refrigeration;
• tents to help partner organizations set up mobile health units;
• hygiene kits;
• food;
• water; and
• portable showers and washing machines.

We will provide more details 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.