North Carolina Activates Hurricane Hotline for Farmers

The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has activated its toll-free hotline to help farmers affected by Hurricane Matthew connect with resources that can assist with recovery.

The record-breaking floods, combined with wicked winds, led to power outages, damage to crops and farm buildings, and animal health emergencies, said the state’s Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler.

Parts of eastern North Carolina had already received heavy rains in late September and had surplus soil moisture.Crops such as soybeans, cotton, peanuts and sweet potatoes, were still in the field. The earlier rain hampered farmers’ efforts to harvest before Hurricane Matthew.

While the storm is gone, it left behind a water-logged landscape where flooding was expected to persist for the rest of the week. At least three rivers were forecast to reach record levels, some not cresting until Friday.

The death toll in the wake of the hurricane climbed to 21. Eleven of those deaths were in North Carolina.

Emergency workers rescued more than 1,500 people in the state. An estimated 4,000 were being served in shelters. As of Monday, more than 500,000 homes remained without power.

Sources: Salisbury Post, CNN