BLUF: The Communication After Hurricane Helene

It’s been just two weeks since Hurricane Helene made landfall and already the nation is facing the fallout of another deadly storm. All week, the haunting images out of Western North Carolina—the updated casualty numbers, the mangled countryside—have been spliced with evacuation warnings for those in the path of Hurricane Milton, which made landfall yesterday evening on Florida’s gulf coast. 

With regards to Helene, we are just beginning to unpack the fallout and response efforts. We know now, for instance, that FEMA’s sluggish response has been hampered by a number of factors: financially, where the agency has been stretched to its absolute limit, and in the information space as misinformation has complicated relief efforts. The spread of false claims and conspiracies surrounding Hurricane Helene have become so damaging to the agency’s mission that FEMA has dedicated an entire page on its website to dispelling rumors swirling around its disaster response and North Carolina Representative Chuck Edwards penned a press release debunking the claims. 

As communications professionals, we often emphasize the importance of clear, effective, and proactive messaging. In the face of natural disasters and other national security threats, how information is communicated and disseminated can mean the difference between life and death. We saw that adjustment in the lead up to Hurricane Milton’s landfall.  Wall to wall coverage, repeated warnings from officials, and vivid renderings of the potential effects to communities have all contributed to strengthening rapid emergency preparedness and limiting loss of life.

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