Georgia leaders are preparing for a tough, lengthy fight over federal relief aid after Hurricane Helene ravaged much of the state last month, exacting a toll so devastating that officials are still tallying the extent of the damage.
Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said Thursday that early estimates project direct damages of at least $6.46 billion to the agriculture and forestry industries, Georgia’s largest economic sector. That’s a staggering tally that could grow as local officials assess the storm’s sweeping damage.
“To put it simply, it’s catastrophic, widespread damage that’s impacted every small town and every rural community in the hurricane’s path,” Harper said from a storm-stricken farm in rural Soperton, between Macon and Savannah. “There’s really no way to sugarcoat what we’ve been dealing with.”
He and other state officials are shadowed by the long and frustrating battle for federal help after Hurricane Michael caused generational damage to farming communities across South Georgia in 2018 that topped $2.5 billion.
Back then, it took roughly a year to secure federal aid despite a bipartisan push by Gov. Brian Kemp and the state’s congressional delegation. Aid didn’t trickle down to many farmers until 2020. The lag left Georgia lawmakers seething and sparked a rift between then-President Donald Trump and state Republicans.
As local officials in storm-stricken communities work to uncover the scope of Helene’s damage, Georgia lawmakers are waging an all-out campaign for urgent financial help. The bottom line, as Harper put it Thursday: “We can’t wait six months. We can’t wait a year for that assistance.”
Kemp has lobbied President Joe Biden, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Trump, the Republican nominee, to swiftly secure aid for Georgia, mindful that no matter November’s outcome Georgia will need to leverage its influence in Washington.
He’s also pressured federal emergency officials to declare dozens of additional counties disaster zones to free up more resources, repeatedly warning Biden’s aides it would become a “political problem” if not.
“They immediately got on that; they understood that and added counties,” Kemp said in Savannah of the pressure, which was joined by senior Democrats. “They were very receptive to our lobbying.”
And Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and Republican U.S. Rep. Austin Scott combined to launch a bipartisan effort urging congressional leaders to swiftly approve disaster relief for an agriculture industry facing “catastrophic losses” from the storm.
“There is the risk of not just deep but lasting damage to Georgia agriculture, our No. 1 industry, if Congress fails to act swiftly,” said Ossoff, who worked with Scott to sign up the entire Georgia delegation, along with dozens of lawmakers across the Southeast, after surveying damage in hard-hit Valdosta.
“This country is always better served and Georgia is always better served when elected leaders in both parties put aside their partisan differences and do what’s in the national interest and in our state’s interest,” Ossoff said.
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock took it a step further, urging congressional leaders to cut short the October recess to approve emergency funding this month.
Warnock said in an interview Thursday that he has pressed the White House with two immediate requests. The first is to designate dozens more counties as federal disasters. The second is to open the spigots for agricultural relief, which is in a separate federal emergency pot of funding.
“We can’t get relief to these areas fast enough or quickly enough,” he said.
Learning the ‘hard way’
The full scope of Helene’s devastation might not come into focus for months, but the hurricane’s devastation comes at a fraught time for Georgia farmers.
Hurricane Debby left swollen rivers and widespread flooding in coastal Georgia in August, and growers were already struggling with rising costs of fuel and fertilizer. Some still owe money for loans they took out after Hurricane Michael in 2018, said Pam Knox, a University of Georgia agricultural climatologist.
“Farmers in Georgia are really having a hard time,” Knox said. “The amount of stress farmers must be going through is just incredible right now.”
Warming ocean temperatures linked to climate change will inevitably bring more fierce storms, she added.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
“Warmer ocean water is going to make these storms intensify more rapidly and get stronger as they come on ashore,” she said.
For now, Georgia politicians are relying on lessons learned from the aftermath of Michael in 2018.
While Georgia lawmakers approved a $470 million state package in a special session, congressional infighting complicated the negotiations for federal relief.
That debate was dominated by squabbling over assistance to Puerto Rico, which was still struggling to recover from the wreckage of 2017′s Hurricane Maria. Trump eventually relented to Democrats and approved about $300 million more for the island than he initially wanted.
Even after Trump signed a $3 billion aid bill in mid-2019, it still took months more for that emergency aid to make its way to farmers.
Scott, whose South Georgia district was walloped by the storm, said Thursday that one of the biggest mistakes made during that legislative fight was not tying together disaster relief funding with a separate congressional agriculture package.
“We learned the hard way with Hurricane Michael that if the other package moves first, ag will get what’s left — and it will get what’s left a year or two later,” said Scott, who also advocated for another block grant that would let state officials mete out the funding rather than waiting on Washington.
“What’s right for Florida, what’s right for Georgia, what’s right for North Carolina may be totally different,” he said.
Former Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black said state officials could also consider reviving a short-term loan program for growers waylaid by the storm. Regardless, he said, Georgians should brace for a drawn-out battle.
“It’s devastating financially and emotionally for farmers to have to wait,” Black said. “And if this drags on to February or March, it impacts the planning for future seasons.”
He added: “Everyone needs to put their feelings to the side and go help farmers.”
— Staff writers Adam Van Brimmer and Meris Lutz contributed to this report.
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