Three days after Hurricane Helene left a staggering 500-plus-mile path of destruction across the American Southeast, millions of people are still reeling and just beginning to dig out from the historic storm. To help, Team Rubicon has launched the first phases of what will be a massive Helene disaster relief operation.
On Friday, September 27, multiple Route Clearance Teams began removing hurricane damage strewn across roadways in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Helene disaster relief volunteers were also on the ground in Florida and Georgia conducting recon and assessing damage from the historic storm.
As of Monday, September 30, Team Rubicon’s Helene disaster relief efforts had already served more than 35 communities across multiple states. More than 140 Team Rubicon volunteers—or Greyshirts—have been serving on five recon teams. The nonprofit’s route clearance teams have already cleared more than 6,500 cubic yards—more than 400 dump trucks worth—of debris in Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina.
Not all of the nonprofit’s Helene disaster relief operations conducted to date were planned. In a surprise turn of events, when a Team Rubicon chainsaw operator proficiency training event in Fairfield, SC, was interrupted by Hurricane Helene, the volunteer sawyers reorganized as a Quick Reaction Force to respond to the state’s request for assistance. Over the weekend, roughly 10 Team Rubicon Greyshirts stepped out of the classroom and into the disaster zone to perform chainsaw operations and provide Helene disaster relief to assist the community.
As route clearance teams continue to clear paths through the post-Helene disaster zone, and recon teams assess damage and unmet need, Team Rubicon is continuing preparations to launch a full-scale Helene disaster relief operation.
It’s not the first time Greyshirts have served on disaster response operations in the areas. Hundreds of Team Rubicon volunteers served in the Big Bend region of Florida in 2023 in response to Hurricane Idalia, and Team Rubicon’s Hurricane Ian response in 2022 was the nonprofit’s largest operation to-date. Team Rubicon has also conducted multiple hurricane and severe storm operations in Georgia, and responded to tornadoes, flooding, and severe storms in Tennessee and the Carolinas.
