HVA and the Ryker Family of companies played an integral role in the massive emergency restoration effort following Hurricane Helene’s devastating impact across the southeastern United States in September 2024. The Category 4 hurricane caused catastrophic power outages for nearly 6 million customers across 10 states, with extensive flooding, landslides, and debris rendering vast areas completely inaccessible to traditional ground-based utility crews. Our aerial capabilities proved absolutely critical to the restoration effort, enabling rapid damage assessment via helicopter surveys, heavy-lift transport of equipment and materials to remote locations, and direct deployment of lineworkers to damaged structures in mountainous terrain.

Without aerial support, many communities would have remained without power for months as ground crews waited for roads to be cleared and bridges to be rebuilt. Our specialized helicopters carried thousands of pounds of equipment across flooded valleys, bypassed landslide-blocked roads, and enabled wire stringing operations over impassable terrain, dramatically accelerating the restoration timeline. This emergency response effort demonstrated our unique ability to combine traditional utility construction expertise with advanced aerial operations, ensuring that no community was left behind regardless of how challenging the terrain or access conditions.