U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that aid for Hurricane Helene victims will start to flow before the March 21 deadline. The storm caused billions in damages and significant loss for farmers, such as Chris Hopkins from Georgia. With many farmers struggling to pay debts and fund new crops, there are concerns about delayed aid affecting planting schedules. The situation is pressing, as some farmers have resorted to selling equipment to manage cash flow ahead of the challenging planting season.
Rollins pledged the aid would begin to be disbursed before the deadline, stating, 'That money will begin to move in the next few weeks.'
Hopkins expressed the urgency of the situation: 'It's desperately needed. What we're seeing is that producers are almost in a holding or pause pattern because they can't afford to pay their rent or their loans.'
Hopkins noted that local farmers had anticipated receiving assistance sooner, lamenting, 'Farmers had hoped the money would come sooner, in January or February.'
The National Centers for Environmental Information described Hurricane Helene as the seventh-most expensive disaster in the U.S. since 1980, with an estimated $78 billion in damages.
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