Name: Southeast farms still rebuilding after Helene
Uploaded: 2025-10-30T17:06:37.266Z
Duration: 3 min 23 s
Description: While areas of the Southeast may have been spared hurricane damage this year, Georgia farmers are still feeling the hurt from Helene. See what crops are struggling.

While areas of the Southeast may have been spared hurricane damage this year, Georgia farmers are still feeling the hurt from Helene. See what crops are struggling.

Georgia

Thirteen months after Hurricane Helene, agricultural communities in Georgia and across the southeastern United States are still in the process of rebuilding. The hurricane, along with storms Debbie and Milton, caused significant damage to orchards, farmlands, and timber, with Georgia's timber industry alone reporting over $1.25 billion in losses.

Farmers face challenging decisions as many crops, such as pecans and timber, require years to mature, and losses have impacted both crop and livestock sectors. Recovery efforts are ongoing, with farmers working to restore profitability and stability to the region's vital agricultural industry.

Southeast farms still rebuilding after Helene

We want to talk about 13 months after Hurricane Helene. Georgia's harvest belt is still rebuilding with losses from orchards to farmlands. AccuWeather's Leslie Hudson is live in Mount Dora, Florida with how Georgia and other southeastern states are working to recover after back-to-back hurricane seasons. And you're a little chilly this morning, I hear. Leslie. Yes. Yes, Bernie, I should have brought my fleece. It is chilly for Florida. We're in the 50s, which I know is not cold. But for us, this is definitely a chill. But we're here in Mount Dora at a very popular strawberry farm. This is a commercial grower here in Central Florida. And just last year, Helene wiped out about 60% of these white tarps that you see. These are an integral part of strawberry growing. And the winds just came through here and knocked about 60% of them out. They have since, of course, repaired those. But we're, as you mentioned, more concerned to our friends to the north in Georgia, who sustained significant damage, not only from Helene, but also Debbie and Milton. And we're 13 months after those storms and that area of the country still under active rebuilding, trying to make their crops profitable. So when we talk about Georgia, it's really all about their growing season. And this is really the height of it right now. We have some video out in Georgia where many of those farmers have put their lifetime work into their fields only to have them destroyed in a matter of hours from those hurricanes last year. According to Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp, Hurricane Helene was the largest weather catastrophe in the state's history. He says Georgia's forestry changed overnight and that many parts of the U.S. rely on Georgia farmers and timber growers to provide the food and fiber to many parts of the country. Georgia's number one industry, according to damage reports, is well over $1.25 billion. That was their timber loss just alone last year. And now many farmers face numerous tough decisions in Georgia in the wake of last year's aftermath where Helene struck the fall season right at harvest when money was already in the fields. Hurricanes hit in the fall, and that's when a lot of our big row crops that's at harvest. And so there's a lot of money out in the fields when these hurricanes hit. Margins are either razor thin or negative. And if you have a couple of hurricanes in a row, you're on the hook for a tremendous amount of capital investment that you don't get a return on. You know, if it's pecans or something, I'm not gonna put another 10 to 20 years into this. So that's the biggest problem in Georgia. Many of the crops there take multiple years. Pecans can take seven to 10 years. That forestry area that was wiped out, up to 20 years. So it's all about trying to be profitable and stretch that dollar for the farmer while they try and regrow. But it also was livestock and their chicken hatcheries that were also devastated in that part of Georgia. So over several billion dollars in losses in those two areas is alone, and they're doing their best to try and recover, not only Georgia, but here in the southeastern part of the country. Reporting live in Mount Dora, Florida, Leslie Hudson, back to you. All right, thank you, Leslie, for that update.

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