NC’s agriculture leaders on the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene in 2024

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Steven Troxler, commissioner of the NC Department of Agriculture, details the damage caused by Hurricane Helene (Photo: NCGA Screengrab)

If there was one story that dominated the news this past year – aside from the election – and left a lasting imprint on North Carolina, it was Hurricane Helene.

The storm ravaged western North Carolina in late September causing an estimated $58 billion in damage.

Unfortunately, the Republican-controlled legislature passed only modest relief measures in the fall, while pledging that more help would be coming from the federal government in the new year, but that remains in the distance.

Meanwhile, the looming question is whether many of affected businesses and households will be able to hang-on until then.

State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler told House lawmakers earlier this month that the only way he could describe this year was “absolutely awful.”

One industry that makes its money in December and was left reeling by Helene is the state’s Christmas tree industry. Rodney Buchanan, president of the NC Christmas Trees Association, told lawmakers few people appreciate how specialized this business is – and how hard it will be for these family farms to recover.

In this segment, we revisit some of the testimony from a recent legislative hearing highlighted the devastating impacts that Hurricane Helene had on agriculture, and we’ll hear some of the powerful testimony.

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