MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Hurricane Helene ravaged millions of acres of farmland throughout the Southeast, in some cases washing away soil down to the bedrock. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the damages will likely be in the billions of dollars and says it may not have enough money to help with immediate recovery. From member station WUOT in Knoxville, Pierce Gentry reports.
PIERCE GENTRY, BYLINE: John Hilemon II was working at his second job when he learned that waters were rapidly rising on the Nolichucky River, threatening hundreds of acres of pasture and farmland that has been in his family for generations.
JOHN HILEMON II: By the time I arrived at work at 7, people was texting me saying, hey - we're evacuating hospitals - things like that. Everything started changing, and by the time I chose to come home, everything was way underwater.
GENTRY: The Hilemon family farm sits along the banks of the river just a couple of miles from the Unicoi County Hospital, where patients were evacuated from the roof after the river rose by 35 feet.
HILEMON: In four hours, we literally lost everything.
GENTRY: The Hilemons lost 650 acres of pasture, 1,000 bales of hay, several barns and millions of dollars' worth of equipment.
HILEMON: If I didn't keep a bit of money for myself, I'd work the next 40 years and still not be able to pay off what we're out right now.
GENTRY: The USDA predicts that at least 4.8 million acres of crop land in the Southeast have been affected by Helene. That's roughly the size of New Jersey. They said they won't have an exact number for damages until they hear from every farm. Now farmers here are turning to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture for help, but Deputy Commissioner Jeff Aiken said the agency is still trying to get funding for relief programs.
JEFF AIKEN: We don't have a lot of money, obviously, that we can commit to the thing right now, but...
GENTRY: That leaves farmers in Tennessee relying on federal USDA recovery programs, but those are mostly limited to long-term reimbursement or loans for specific expenses. John Litz is with the USDA's Farm Service Agency in Tennessee. He says they want to provide as much help as they can, but they're waiting on congressional approval.
JOHN LITZ: We're not finished with this yet. I mean, we're trying our best to be able to figure out how that we can better serve farmers and what financial obligations it's going to take to do that. One of the big things it is it takes money to do this. And that money has to come from Congress, and Congress has to appropriate it.
GENTRY: Back at the Hilemon Farm, John II works nights, then returns home to clean up his property.
HILEMON: There's no real game plan because of the nature of the work that'll go in to doing what has to be done. This is not only affecting me this year. This is going to affect me for years to come.
GENTRY: Hilemon said he's grateful for the programs that are available, but he'll still have to take out personal loans to even start the recovery process. For NPR News, I'm Pierce Gentry in Erwin, Tennessee.
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