Executive Summary
On September 27, 2024, eastern Tennessee was devastated by Hurricane Helene. Rivers changed course, communities were flooded, lives were lost, homes and property were destroyed, and roads, bridges, businesses, and critical infrastructure sustained catastrophic damage.
From initial response through ongoing recovery, Tennessee’s Strategic Technology Solutions Center for Enterprise Data and Analytics enterprise GIS team led a coordinated, geospatial data-driven response to this disaster. In an emergency of this scale, location was critical. Decision-makers needed to understand where damage occurred, which infrastructure was compromised, where roads were closed, how conditions changed over time, and how resources should be prioritized.
The enterprise GIS team rapidly coordinated authoritative geospatial data from key partners, including the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), as well as contractors, and local governments. By integrating these datasets into a unified geospatial response, the team created a common operating picture that supported real-time situational awareness across agencies and jurisdictions.
The team also managed imagery acquisition flights, provided access to critical datasets, and rapidly developed web mapping applications and geospatial services for responders, engineers, planners, local governments, utilities, and the public. These tools transformed complex data into actionable maps and analysis, helping users visualize storm impacts, assess infrastructure conditions, monitor road and bridge reconstruction, estimate soil and vegetation loss, track debris removal, and support ongoing recovery.
Data and applications were centralized and shared through Tennessee’s geospatial imagery hub, imagery.tn.gov. The team also coordinated with federal and state partners to collect post-disaster LiDAR elevation data in spring 2025, creating a valuable foundation for change detection, flood modeling, resilient construction, planning, and long-term recovery analysis.
The result is a powerful example of how data management, analytics, and visualization can strengthen government response, cross-agency collaboration, accelerate recovery, and support more informed decisions during one of Tennessee’s most destructive natural disasters.
