Its enormous size already impacting the Carolinas and very well may cause significant damage to crops in the western portions of North and South Carolina. Linda Pryor is a corn farmer and apple grower in Henderson County, North Carolina.
“Over the last 24 hours, we have already received several inches of rain from a separate system, so we are flooded right now. So if we get the rain that is predicted from the hurricane, and more importantly, the wind that will come with it, I think that we have potential for catastrophic damage on top of the flooding that we’re experiencing today.”
Pryor says the ground is already saturated there, and will threaten not just the harvest, but the trees as well.
“As far as orchard trees that have several inches of water of the trunk already. And we get wind with that when those roots are already compromised, I’m afraid we’re going to lose quite a bit of those.”
She grows about 130 acres in apples, more than 900 acres in corn. The corn harvest hasn’t begun.
“We were planning to start next week, and, you know, not like the eastern part of the state, where they’ve already started. We would start a little later, and the water is already up to the ears and several fields and will likely remain there for an extended period of time, which will destroy the corn crop.”
Pryor says her fields came through this summer’s flash drought really well, but now this.
“When we first planted, it was a little bit wet, and then we got very dry, and we’re concerned, but we ended up, the corn looks really good, actually. It recovered from the drought. We’ve actually have too much rain towards the end of the summer, but the corn did look really good. So it’s extremely disappointing. And you know, it’s always the risk you take, and it’s a gamble, but it still hurts to lose.”
But at this point, it’s too early to tell just how much loss the crop will sustain.
“What we have today that, like I said, with a completely separate system from the hurricane, is going to do a significant amount of damage already. So I think that tomorrow I’ll have a better idea. I pray that we don’t get the wind that we are forecasted to get. That would help a lot, and that maybe not as much rain, and that it recedes quickly and doesn’t stay on the ear. That would make a difference, too. I think it’s too early, and, you know, a lot of variables, and we’re hoping that it lessens its strength before it reaches us and that we don’t have the impact that they’re forecasting.”