Hurricane Helene

Rainfall started impacting Northeast Tennessee days before Helene made landfall. On September 27, catastrophic flooding impacts from Helene brought massive amounts of debris which destroyed numerous homes, infrastructure, and utilities.

The Northeast Tennessee Disaster Relief Center was established just days after the storm at Bristol Motor Speedway. The large community partnership was supported by TN National Guard and State Guard Volunteers, the Unicoi County Chamber of Commerce, United Way of East TN Highlands, Eastman Chemical, and Sunbright Rentals. The Center opened on October 2, 2024, and was operational for 135 days. The Center served as a donation hub to support survivors and fulfill requests for impacted counties, organizations, and local communities.

Hundreds of volunteers responded in the months after Helene and continue to support long-term recovery.  Many are members of the Tennessee Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (TNVOAD), which serves as a support for partners across the state before, during, and after disasters.  Several other organizations and houses of worship continue to help Helene survivors in their communities.

In addition to the immediate response, the State of Tennessee made historic investments to help impacted communities recover and rebuild stronger: 

• In response to the widespread and devastating impacts of Tropical Storm Helene, the state supported local governments with debris removal. TEMA led the overall coordination of the effort, directly overseeing debris removal from selected waterways and working with TDOT to expand debris clearance from the right-of-way along state to include local roads. Together, these projects resulted in the removal of more than 6.2 million cubic yards of debris across the region.
• The state created the Governor’s Response and Recovery Fund and distributed more than $42 million across 126 projects for businesses, farmers, forest landowners, local governments, and nonprofits that were impacted as a direct result from Tropical Storm Helene. An additional $25 million was distributed from the fund directly to counties impacted by Tropical Storm Helene to aid in general operations and recovery expenses.
• The State of Tennessee appropriated $240 million, in addition to the usual allocation, to the Disaster Relief Fund to expand the state’s disaster response capacity. The funding reduced the local cost-share for counties and municipalities from 12.5% to 5% and ensured the state covered its portion of the federal disaster assistance match, easing the financial burden on impacted counties.
• The state established the Hurricane Helene Interest Payment Fund, dedicating $110 million to help local governments manage recovery-related borrowing cost. The fund offsets up to 5% interest for up to three years on loans taken out to finance Helene recovery projects.
• The Helene Emergency Assistance Loan Program, a first-of-its-kind program created by Gov. Lee to provide immediate financial relief to impacted counties, distributed more than $94.3 million to local jurisdictions for water infrastructure repairs and debris removal.

Together these initiatives represent an unprecedented level of state support for communities facing the aftermath of a disaster.