One Year After Hurricanes Helene and Milton: The Road to Recovery

One year ago, Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic flooding and massive destruction across Florida and the Southeastern United States. Just 13 days later, Hurricane Milton hit Florida communities still reeling from Helene’s impact. Together, the storms damaged more than 100,000 homes and displaced countless families in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.

Since then, SBP has been on the ground helping survivors rebuild and regain stability. In Florida, our teams have guided homeowners through complex FEMA appeals, provided damage assessments and emergency repairs, and rebuilt homes for families who had nowhere else to turn. In North Carolina, we’ve helped homeowners with their FEMA appeals and partnered with local leaders to strengthen long-term recovery groups, providing training that equips communities to lead their own recovery efforts.

“Our progress reflects what’s possible when local partners, volunteers, and donors work together toward one goal: getting families home. SBP is committed not only to supporting individuals and families to rebuild after disasters, but also to investing in the resilience of communities to reduce the impact of future storms.”

—SBP Chief Operating Officer Reese May

SBP’s Impact: Helping Communities Recover, Rebuild, and Return Home

To date, SBP has helped communities affected by Helene and Milton navigate the recovery process by:

• Submitting 458 FEMA appeals for affected homeowners in Florida and Western North Carolina.
  
  • Unlocking $1.5 million in additional FEMA funding through approved appeals for homeowners’ critical needs.
    
• Training 476 local leaders — including 114 in Florida, 109 in North Carolina, and 253 across Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and other states — to navigate and lead long-term recovery, resilience and preparedness efforts for their communities.
  
• Rebuilding 51 homes for survivors of Helene and Milton in Florida.
  
• Completing 163 muck and gut services, debris removal, roof tarping, and damage assessments on 88 homes in Florida and Western North Carolina.
  
• Serving 1,351 people through immediate response services (muck and gut, debris removal); support to help homeowners prepare and file FEMA appeals in Florida and Western North Carolina; home rebuilding in Florida, and recovery and resiliency training in Florida, Western North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.
  

Looking Ahead to Support Long-Term Recovery

Recovery from Helene and Milton will be a long-term, collaborative process requiring sustained commitment–and investment. SBP’s work to rebuild homes, strengthen resilience, and increase readiness to reduce the impact of future storms will continue. 

• We are scaling up our home rebuilding and direct recovery programs in the Tampa area to serve a total of 200 families by the end of 2027. 
• As part of a multi-year expansion of our Resilience Fellows program, SBP will embed a Disaster Resilience Fellow within a community impacted by Helene in Western North Carolina to strengthen local capacity for long-term recovery. 
• SBP will continue supporting affected homeowners  to file appeals and secure the maximum amount of FEMA funding for which they are eligible through the end of FEMA’s appeal window.
  

There is No Place Like Home

Numbers matter, but beneath the statistics are people struggling to prepare for and recover from disasters. Recovery is about the process by which individuals are able to get back on their feet, return safely to their homes and communities, and resume their lives with dignity and stability. We are humbled to share stories of courageous individuals who persevered through these unprecedented hurricanes and rallied the determination—with support from SBP and their communities—to build the way home.

Read  stories of change one year after Hurricanes Helene and Milton→