Drones After Hurricane Helene: How a Two-Person Team Mapped the Damage on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Road damage along the Blue Ridge Parkway. NPS/T. Rand

Hurricane Helene came ashore in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on September 26, 2024, and by the next day had moved north into North Carolina as a post-tropical cyclone. Western North Carolina was already soaked from several days of rain. The storm dropped up to 30 inches in places, with sustained winds up to 60 mph — and the Blue Ridge Parkway was hit so hard that all 469 miles of it, in Virginia and North Carolina, stayed closed.

Calling in the drones

The National Park Service sent its Eastern Incident Management Team (EIMT). Once on site, the team asked for a small Uncrewed Aerial System (sUAS) module to gather damage information quickly and safely. A two-person module from Acadia National Park answered, traveling to Cherokee, North Carolina, in October 2024.

Its job: start at the southern end of the park and work north as far as possible, documenting damage to infrastructure. Park and incident crews were cutting thousands of fallen trees to open access for staff. On good days road crews cleared up to 75 miles; on bad ones, only 0.75 miles.

Damage found during the infrastructure assessment. NPS/T. Rand

What they did

The first priorities were the safety of employees and visitors and restoring communications and access. Then came documenting the damage — to steer the response and to set targets for ground teams across the Parkway's great length. The drones reached places no one could and recorded damage to roads, campgrounds, visitor centers, and critical infrastructure such as communication towers and well houses.

Assessing critical communications infrastructure. NPS/T. Rand

Each day the module briefed the incident team and park officials on the previous day's findings, with high-resolution photos and video that fed directly into planning and, later, recovery projects. Superintendent Tracy Swartout said early drone deployment let the mission adapt in real time so other resources could be sent safely on the ground, and reduced the need for larger crewed aircraft.

The first nine days

Most flights focused on landslides above or below the road, many of which had taken out sections of roadway entirely. Park managers and incident command set the module to record nearly all primary infrastructure, including how much was damaged. The damage covered so much ground that a second module, from Grand Teton National Park, came in for another 14 days.

A member of the sUAS module shows NPS Director Chuck Sams the drone dashboard used for assessments. NPS

What worked

• Fast assessment of areas cut off by road damage.
• Quick review by incident and park officials, so missions could be prioritized efficiently.
• Map-linked results that guided recovery: where to put barriers, which damage to assess first, where to send field visits.
• A basis for cost estimates in the disaster recovery phase.
• Aerial and orthographic images of landslides on terrain so steep they couldn't have been photographed — or even found — from the ground.

The team brought three drones — two Skydio X-10s and a Parrot Anafi — and used both models. The Skydios produced strong photos, video and orthomosaic maps of the worst-hit road sections.

Support came from the park's managers, the incident team and the Northeast Regional Office (DOI Region 1), including the regional aviation manager and deputy. The deputy, a local sUAS pilot, supplied a large battery to keep drone batteries, laptops and radios charged. Mark Pita, the Northeast Region's chief ranger, served as the EIMT's Operations Chief, and his backing was key.

The incident team's GIS dashboard of assessments completed by drone. NPS/T. Rand

For the long haul

Recovery on the Parkway will take a long time. So the incident team's GIS specialist filed everything the drones produced by mile marker, making it usable by any future incident team and by park staff for years. As Swartout put it: "Simply put, rapid deployment of sUAS assets, and strong damage assessment documentation linked to a solid GIS framework is a gift that supported incident operations and sets the park up well for the next phase related to re-establishing public access, keeping people safe, and planning for recovery."

Drones on the Parkway

Launching, landing or operating an unmanned aircraft on Blue Ridge Parkway lands and waters is prohibited, and requests for private or recreational drone use won't be approved (36 CFR §1.5).

The superintendent may allow administrative use — safeguarding people or property, carrying out management plans, repairing or maintaining government facilities, data collection, natural, cultural or structural assessments, scientific monitoring, all-hazard incidents, law enforcement, and in some cases wildland fire or search and rescue (Reference Manual 60, Chapter 12).

Sources

Based on "Uncrewed Aerial Systems (sUAS) module supports Hurricane Helene response on Blue Ridge Parkway," National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain. Rewritten in hubnx's own words; the closing quotation is Superintendent Swartout's own.