HurricaneHub

AI Chat Box for any Problems
Readiness dashboard
Simulation Mode
Weather Alerts & Rain Chance
Provides information about these things for every Location user enters
FAQs
SMTP email alerts from HurricaneHub

Inspiration

Tampa Bay is one of the most hurricane-vulnerable cities in America. After watching communities suffer through Ian and Helene, we saw one terrifying truth — people didn't know their flood risk until it was too late. We built HurricaneHub because no Tampa Bay resident should ever be caught off guard by a hurricane again.

What it does

HurricaneHub is a personal flood resilience assistant for Tampa Bay residents. You type your address and our AI, powered by Claude, answers your specific flood safety questions based on your exact location and live weather data. When a hurricane warning is active, you automatically receive a personalized email alert telling you exactly what to do.

How we built it

We built HurricaneHub using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript on the frontend with a Node.js and Express backend. We integrated the Anthropic Claude API with dynamic system prompts that rebuild themselves for every user based on their location and live National Weather Service data. Gmail SMTP handles automated emergency email alerts via Nodemailer.

Challenges we ran into

This was our first hackathon and none of us had built a full stack web app before. Setting up Gmail SMTP authentication with App Passwords took longer than expected. Getting Claude to respond with genuinely personalized answers rather than generic flood information required careful prompt engineering with live user data injected dynamically.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

As complete beginners we built a fully working AI-powered web application in 24 hours. The dynamic prompt system that rebuilds itself for every single user is something we are genuinely proud of — it means every person gets a real, personal response rather than a copy-paste answer. We also successfully integrated live weather data from the National Weather Service API.

What we learned

We learned how to build and deploy a full stack web application from scratch. We learned how to use the Anthropic Claude API and engineer prompts dynamically using real user data. Most importantly we learned that with the right tools and enough determination, a team of beginners can build something meaningful in 24 hours.

What's next for HurricaneHub

We want to expand HurricaneHub to every coastal Florida county, add SMS alerts for residents without reliable internet access, support more languages starting with Spanish, and partner with Hillsborough and Pinellas County emergency management to integrate official real-time shelter and evacuation data directly into the platform.