Hurricanes Helene & Milton
Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck Florida's Gulf Coast within two weeks of each other in fall 2024, providing a rare opportunity to document how coastal environments and infrastructure changed through successive major storms. As Hurricane Helene approached Florida, the RAPID Facility coordinated with the Nearshore Extreme Events Reconnaissance (NEER) Association to begin collecting data before landfall, followed by repeated surveys with NEER and the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association after Helene and through Hurricane Milton.
The coordinated effort produced a significant dataset documenting conditions before, during, and after the hurricanes. RAPID staff and collaborating researchers surveyed coastal structures and terrain, mapped nearshore bathymetry, measured water depths, and characterized soil and sediment conditions. Wave gauges and water-level sensors deployed ahead of the storms captured storm surge and wave conditions, while University of Florida wind towers at corresponding locations recorded wind characteristics. Repeated surveys, including drone-based mapping and other techniques, allowed researchers to track changes to coastal environments and structures over time. The deployment marked the first time RAPID, working with NEER and GEER researchers, successfully mobilized to collect data in the eventual landfall region before a major hurricane, creating a valuable baseline for understanding how storm surge, waves, wind, erosion, and other coastal processes contributed to the changes observed after the storms.