After Hurricane Helene, Are We Ready for the Next Big Storm?

Last fall, Hurricane Helene tore through multiple states, leaving millions without power, billions of dollars in damage, and more than 200 people dead. In the days that followed, NPR correspondent Laura Sullivan and a team from FRONTLINE began reporting on the ground in Western North Carolina, one of the hardest-hit areas — despite being inland and elevated far above sea level. Over the course of several months, the team documented the community’s early attempts to recover and debates around how to build back. Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning is the latest in a series of films from FRONTLINE and NPR on storms and their aftermath. Drawing on more than a decade of collaborative reporting, the documentary examines the difficult choices facing communities impacted by disasters, and the country’s growing vulnerability to climate-fueled storms. Sullivan and the film’s director, Jonathan Schienberg, join FRONTLINE executive producer and editor-in-chief Raney Aronson-Rath to talk about what they saw in North Carolina, why they returned to the sites of earlier storms, including Houston and New York, and the tensions surrounding efforts to rebuild.Sullivan’s reporting pointed her to what she calls “the overall” questions on disaster response: “Why after 20 years since Katrina, are we still standing in these devastated places wondering how did this happen? And how did it happen here? And why are so many people dead? And that's when we started asking, is there a way to do this differently?”You can watch Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning on FRONTLINE’s website, FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel, and the PBS App. Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.

What this episode covers

Last fall, Hurricane Helene tore through multiple states, leaving millions without power, billions of dollars in damage, and more than 200 people dead. In the days that followed, NPR correspondent Laura Sullivan and a team from FRONTLINE began reporting on the ground in Western North Carolina, one of the hardest-hit areas — despite being inland and elevated far above sea level. Over the course of several months, the team documented the community’s early attempts to recover and debates around how to build back. Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning is the latest in a series of films from FRONTLINE and NPR on storms and their aftermath. Drawing on more than a decade of collaborative reporting, the documentary examines the difficult choices facing communities impacted by disasters, and the country’s growing vulnerability to climate-fueled storms. Sullivan and the film’s director, Jonathan Schienberg, join FRONTLINE executive producer and editor-in-chief Raney Aronson-Rath to talk about what they saw in North Carolina, why they returned to the sites of earlier storms, including Houston and New York, and the tensions surrounding efforts to rebuild. Sullivan’s reporting pointed her to what she calls “the overall” questions on disaster response: “Why after 20 years since Katrina, are we still standing in these devastated places wondering how did this happen? And how did it happen here? And why are so many people dead? And that's when we started asking, is there a way to do this differently?” You can watch Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning on FRONTLINE’s website, FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel, and the PBS App. Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.