Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning
May 20, 2025
7/6c: pbs.org/frontline, PBS App
10/9c: PBS stations (check local listings), YouTube
& the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel
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Over the past decade, the PBS investigative documentary series FRONTLINE has collaborated with NPR on groundbreaking investigations into disasters in the U.S. and their aftermath — from Superstorm Sandy’s destruction in New York and New Jersey, to Hurricane Maria that plunged Puerto Rico into darkness, to Irma that tore through Florida, and Harvey that left much of Houston underwater. 

The public media organizations’ acclaimed joint reporting continues this month with Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning, a multiplatform investigation that will include a documentary premiering May 20, 2025 on PBS and a two-part podcast series premiering June 8 on NPR’s “Up First.” 

“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 NPR’s Laura Sullivan, who spent the past eight months investigating the impact and recovery from Helene with FRONTLINE. “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 North Carolina — where Hurricane Helene killed more than 100 people and damaged tens of thousands of homes last year, even in inland places elevated far above sea level.” 

In Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning, Sullivan goes on the ground in North Carolina starting in the days after Helene hit, speaking with survivors who describe devastation, fear and shock at seeing entire communities washed away. She returns to Houston, where thousands of homes remain in a reservoir, despite already flooding during Harvey, and 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.

“We put a lotta stuff right back where it was,” says Craig Fugate, head of FEMA during Sandy and for four years after. “As far as homes go, as far as the small businesses, I think there’s this tendency that we think, ‘Well, it won’t happen again,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, it will.’ And to say it won’t be as bad? That’s hard to say.” 

Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning examines controversy over the factors that shape the federal agency’s flood maps — including the ones in North Carolina, where most of the people who lost homes and lives were not in areas FEMA had classified as high-risk. The documentary also explores tensions surrounding efforts to update building codes and requirements in flood-vulnerable areas, with some people arguing that the regulations are key to resilience and would be life-saving, and others saying that they would slow development, make rebuilding more difficult and expensive, and take away people’s agency.

“Property owners should be able to make up their own minds about how to rebuild,” says U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, whose district in Hendersonville, North Carolina, was among the areas worst affected by Helene. 

Finally, Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning looks at how, as climate change-related storms become more frequent and severe in the U.S., there are concerns that incremental attempts to mitigate against future flooding across the country aren’t going to be enough.

“The storms we’re looking at in the future are so much larger than what we designed for in the past that I don’t think we’ll be able to catch up,” says Jim Blackburn, an environmental law expert in Houston. “I think what we’re gonna keep seeing is that the water’s gonna rise higher than you planned for. It’s gonna keep coming and it’s gonna to keep going up. And at some point we’re just gonna determine it makes more sense not to occupy these high-risk areas that keep flooding again and again and again.”

Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning builds on years of impactful reporting from FRONTLINE and NPR. In the wake of the prior joint investigation Blackout in Puerto Rico, U.S. lawmakers introduced a bill to establish an independent commission to investigate the federal response to Hurricane Maria, citing FRONTLINE and NPR’s reporting. The owners of a company contracted by FEMA to bring hundreds of thousands of tarps to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria also came under federal investigation after FRONTLINE and NPR’s reporting.

“For nearly ten years, we’ve reported on the impact of devastating storms in the United States with our public media colleagues at NPR,” says FRONTLINE editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath. “We’re grateful to continue collaborating with NPR and their investigative team, and hope that this joint reporting offers valuable, accountability reporting that is a resource to communities across the country.”

NPR Chief Investigations Editor Robert Little called the project “another example of the combined strength in collaborating with a great public media partner like FRONTLINE.”

Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning will be available to watch at pbs.org/frontline and in the PBS App starting May 20, 2025, at 7/6c. It will premiere on PBS stations (check local listings) and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel that night at 10/9c and will also be available on the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel. A two-part podcast series will premiere on NPR’s “Up First” on June 8, 2025. Subscribe to FRONTLINE’s newsletter to get updates on events, podcast episodes and more related to Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning. 

Credits
Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning is a FRONTLINE Production with Five O’Clock Films in association with NPR and Perimeter Pictures. The correspondent is Laura Sullivan. The writer, producer  and director is Jonathan Schienberg. The producers are Dana Miller Ervin, Lauren Ezell, Kate McCormick and Laura Sullivan. The senior producer is Frank Koughan. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.

About FRONTLINE
FRONTLINE, U.S. television’s longest running investigative documentary series, explores the issues of our times through powerful storytelling. FRONTLINE has won an Academy Award® as well as every major journalism and broadcasting award, including 108 Emmy Awards and 34 Peabody Awards. Visit pbs.org/frontline and follow us on  Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to learn more. FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen, and Laura DeBonis and Scott Nathan. Additional support for Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning is provided by the GBH Climate and Environment Fund.

About NPR
NPR’s rigorous reporting and unsurpassed storytelling connects with millions of Americans every day — on the air, online, and in person. NPR strives to create a more informed public — one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas, and cultures. With a nationwide network of award-winning journalists and 16 international bureaus, NPR and its Member organizations are never far from where a story is unfolding. Listeners can find NPR by tuning in to their local Member stations (npr.org/stations), downloading the NPR App or asking Alexa to “Play NPR.” Additionally, listeners on Alexa will also be able to tune in to NPR’s live coverage. Just tell Alexa to “ask NPR to play special coverage.” The NPR mobile app brings together the best of the NPR Network from around the world and right in your community — live radio, podcasts, the latest local and national news and more — available wherever you are and whenever you want. Get more information at npr.org/about and by following NPR Extra on Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads, and Instagram.

Press Contact
FRONTLINE | Anne Husted, Director of Marketing and Communications | frontlinemedia@wgbh.org | 617.300.5312
NPR | Danielle Wilson, NPR Media Relations |  mediarelations@npr.org