By Clint Thompson
The damage has been done by Hurricane Helene on farmers in the Southeast. Producers will need financial relief as soon as possible, says U.S. Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.).
Scott made the passionate plea during last Thursday’s press conference in Soperton, Georgia.
“When we go to Congress, we will have to put together an ag-specific appropriation for the disaster package. It is important that the ag portion of the disaster package moves at the same time as the other portion of the disaster package moves. We learned the hard way with Hurricane Michael that if the other package moves first, ag will get what’s left, and it’ll get what’s left a year or two later. That’s not acceptable. The ag appropriation must move at the same time as the other disaster package does,” said Scott, which was followed by applause from farmers and other legislative leaders in attendance.
“As we did with Hurricane Michael, we block granted it to the states. That’s the fastest way to get the money back into the hands of the farmer. We need to get this cash back into the hands of the farmer, certainly before the end of January. They’ve got notes to pay out, and those notes have got to be paid out so those farmers can farm again next year.”
Preliminary Estimates
Preliminary estimates for the economic impact of Hurricane Helene totaled $6.46 billion, according to totals released by the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES). The estimates included direct and indirect losses, loss of jobs, etc. Direct impact totals $1.8 billion.
“The other thing that is different about this storm, it’s not just those numbers, if you look at the manpower, and I’m talking about manpower to get trees picked up, manpower to get power lines back up; the storm is so big, and now you have this other storm (Milton) coming through the state of Florida, you’ve got people out there putting in more than 80 hours a week,” Scott said. “At some point they’ve got to have a break or mistakes start to happen. My heart goes out to all of those people out there doing everything they can to take care of their fellow Americans.”