diff --git a/packages/amplify-provider-awscloudformation/src/__tests__/initialize-env.test.ts b/packages/amplify-provider-awscloudformation/src/__tests__/initialize-env.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b67a85aba65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/amplify-provider-awscloudformation/src/__tests__/initialize-env.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import { downloadZip } from '../zip-util';
+import { run } from '../initialize-env';
+import { $TSContext, AmplifyException } from 'amplify-cli-core';
+
+jest.mock('../aws-utils/aws-s3');
+jest.mock('../zip-util');
+
+const downloadZipMock = downloadZip as jest.MockedFunction<typeof downloadZip>;
+
+describe('initialize environment', () => {
+  const contextStub = {
+    amplify: {
+      pathManager: {
+        getAmplifyDirPath: jest.fn().mockReturnValue('some/path'),
+        getCurrentCloudBackendDirPath: jest.fn(),
+        getBackendDirPath: jest.fn(),
+      },
+    },
+  } as unknown as $TSContext;
+  it('throws AmplifyError if the deployment bucket does not exist', async () => {
+    downloadZipMock.mockRejectedValueOnce({ code: 'NoSuchBucket' });
+    const actual = await expect(run(contextStub, {})).rejects;
+    actual.toBeInstanceOf(AmplifyException);
+    actual.toMatchInlineSnapshot(
+      `[EnvironmentNotInitializedError: Could not find a deployment bucket for the specified backend environment. This environment may have been deleted.]`,
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('throws underlying error if the deployment bucket exists but fetching current-cloud-backend zip fails for some other reason', async () => {
+    const errStub = { code: 'SomethingElse' };
+    downloadZipMock.mockRejectedValueOnce(errStub);
+    await expect(run(contextStub, {})).rejects.toEqual(errStub);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/amplify-provider-awscloudformation/src/initialize-env.ts b/packages/amplify-provider-awscloudformation/src/initialize-env.ts
index d850957761f..eeff4aca5fb 100644
--- a/packages/amplify-provider-awscloudformation/src/initialize-env.ts
+++ b/packages/amplify-provider-awscloudformation/src/initialize-env.ts
@@ -1,18 +1,4 @@
-/* eslint-disable max-depth */
-/* eslint-disable max-lines-per-function */
-/* eslint-disable prefer-const */
-/* eslint-disable no-param-reassign */
-/* eslint-disable no-return-await */
-/* eslint-disable consistent-return */
-/* eslint-disable no-continue */
-/* eslint-disable max-len */
-/* eslint-disable spellcheck/spell-checker */
-/* eslint-disable @typescript-eslint/explicit-function-return-type */
-/* eslint-disable func-style */
-/* eslint-disable no-restricted-syntax */
-/* eslint-disable @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any */
-/* eslint-disable prefer-arrow/prefer-arrow-functions */
-import { $TSContext, $TSMeta, JSONUtilities, PathConstants, stateManager } from '@aws-amplify/amplify-cli-core';
+import { $TSContext, $TSMeta, AmplifyError, JSONUtilities, PathConstants, stateManager } from '@aws-amplify/amplify-cli-core';
 import fs from 'fs-extra';
 import glob from 'glob';
 import _ from 'lodash';
@@ -38,9 +24,21 @@ export async function run(context: $TSContext, providerMetadata: $TSMeta) {
     const backendDir = context.amplify.pathManager.getBackendDirPath();
 
     const s3 = await S3.getInstance(context);
-    const cfnItem = await new Cloudformation(context);
-    const file = await downloadZip(s3, tempDir, S3BackendZipFileName, undefined);
-    const unzippedDir = await extractZip(tempDir, file);
+    let currentCloudBackendZip: string;
+    try {
+      currentCloudBackendZip = await downloadZip(s3, tempDir, S3BackendZipFileName, undefined);
+    } catch (err) {
+      if (err?.code === 'NoSuchBucket') {
+        throw new AmplifyError('EnvironmentNotInitializedError', {
+          message: `Could not find a deployment bucket for the specified backend environment. This environment may have been deleted.`,
+          resolution: 'Make sure the environment has been initialized with "amplify init" or "amplify env add".',
+        });
+      }
+      // if there was some other error, rethrow it
+      throw err;
+    }
+
+    const unzippedDir = await extractZip(tempDir, currentCloudBackendZip);
 
     fs.removeSync(currentCloudBackendDir);
 
@@ -74,9 +72,10 @@ export async function run(context: $TSContext, providerMetadata: $TSMeta) {
     fs.removeSync(tempDir);
 
     logger('run.cfn.updateamplifyMetaFileWithStackOutputs', [{ StackName: providerMetadata.StackName }])();
+    const cfnItem = await new Cloudformation(context);
     await cfnItem.updateamplifyMetaFileWithStackOutputs(providerMetadata.StackName);
 
-    // Copy provider metadata from current-cloud-backend/amplify-meta to backend/ampliy-meta
+    // Copy provider metadata from current-cloud-backend/amplify-meta to backend/amplify-meta
     const currentAmplifyMeta = stateManager.getCurrentMeta();
     const amplifyMeta = stateManager.getMeta();