Hurricane Helene Building Damage and Elevation Data for Florida

Featuring virtual damage assessment and first-floor elevation data for 1,085 buildings impacted by Hurricane Helene (2024) in Horseshoe Beach and Cedar Key, Florida. It includes component-level damage states for roofs, walls, and foundations, as well as building characteristics like foundation type and occupancy. The data was validated against field assessments and Florida elevation certificates.

Use Cases

• Predict overall building damage state from component-level damage states for roofs, walls, and foundations.
• Analyze the relationship between first-floor elevation (FFE) measurements and building damage states to assess flood vulnerability.
• Model hurricane damage by building characteristics such as foundation type, occupancy type, and number of stories.
• Validate virtual damage assessment (VDA) protocols by comparing VDA damage states with field damage states for selected buildings.
• Assess assessor bias by comparing damage state ratings from multiple assessors for the same 30 buildings.

Strengths

• Contains data for 1,085 specific buildings impacted by a major hurricane.
• Includes validated data, with VDA compared to field assessments and FFE compared to Florida elevation certificates.
• Provides component-level damage states on a scale from DS0 to DS6 for multiple building elements.

Limitations

• Geographic scope is limited to two specific communities in Florida, limiting generalizability.
• Sample size of 1,085 buildings may be insufficient for training complex predictive models without augmentation.
• Validation data for assessor bias is based on a small subset of only 30 buildings.

Provenance

Source

DesignSafe Data Depot Repository Harvested Subcollection, authored by Aaron Anton.

Collection Method

Created using pre- and post-storm imagery, municipal property data, and field reconnaissance, implemented through virtual assessment resources and web-based tools.

Time Range

Focuses on Hurricane Helene, which occurred in 2024.

Freshness

Data pertains to Hurricane Helene in 2024 and was last updated in February 2026.

Geography

Horseshoe Beach and Cedar Key, Florida, USA.