Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning | FRONT

In “Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning,” Laura Sullivan goes on the ground in North Carolina in the days after the 2024 storm and speaks with survivors who describe the devastation, fear and shock they experienced at seeing entire communities washed away. She revisits Houston, Texas, where thousands of homes remain in an area that already flooded during Harvey in 2017. Sullivan also returns to Staten Island, where, according to a former FEMA director, the billion dollar rebuilding process may not have been enough to prevent mass destruction should another Superstorm Sandy hit.

“The federal government spends more than $50 billion a year to help communities recover, including properties that have flooded repeatedly in what seems like an endless cycle of destruction and rebuilding,” says Sullivan. “Our new joint investigation examines the forces fueling this cycle, whether places that have rebuilt after devastating floods are any safer today, and how this process is now playing out in Nor