Gotham In Action

Powering Rapid Response After Hurricane Florence

In September 2018, Hurricane Florence devastated North and South Carolina in the United States. The storm was responsible for thousands of displacements, over a million power outages, and an estimated $17 billion in damage. To help victims remove felled trees from their properties, muck out flooded houses, and tarp damaged roofs, military veteran volunteer corps Team Rubicon deployed 1,000 volunteers—and Palantir Gotham.

Team Rubicon used Palantir Gotham’s Operations Module so the National Operations Center and Field Teams could collaborate on planning and executing six consecutive operations. They combined publicly available flood data with weather information and social vulnerability census data to find the communities in greatest need. In the field, Team Rubicon Incident Command and volunteers used data to manage operations: from triaging incoming help requests, to dispatching assessment and work teams, and producing sharable daily metrics and reports. With Palantir Gotham, Team Rubicon used data to marshal resources faster, to those most in need.