Hurricane Helene was one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in American history. The storm was responsible for at least 249 fatalities in the United States, making it the deadliest hurricane since Hurricane Katrina. Understanding the people and places impacted by Hurricane Helene will remain important for years to come.

This work establishes a baseline for future measurement of Hurricane Helene’s impact with a new dataset, the Census Bureau’s Assessment, Recovery, and Evaluation Datasets or CAREs. CAREs is a curation of data from multiple federal sources including the Census Bureau, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This allows data users to find relevant information about the population, disaster exposure, and recovery all in one source.

Several short case studies illustrate CAREs’ value by examining the relationship between disaster impacts and household registrations for FEMA assistance. The analysis shows clear associations between exposure, recovery assistance, population characteristics, and recovery. One study shows a correlation between DOE power outage estimates and household registrations for aid from FEMA’s Individual Assistance Program. This link between power outages and program participation highlights how disaster exposure influences recovery needs and could be used to forecast future registrations. Forecasting registration patterns could ensure that policy goals are met in allocating resources and pinpointing areas with greater recovery needs.

These insights can help agencies target recovery resources to places that may need additional attention. It also demonstrates the value of standardizing diverse datasets for public analysis.