Hurricane Helene Impact Report

AP 133-1

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J. Moore, Jacob Price, Marvin Wells, Casey Ritz, Wade Parker, Jillian Bohlen, Tim Coolong, Lawton Stewart, Gregory Colson, Walter Monfort, Todd Applegate, Mary Sutton, Michael Adjemian, Lavesta Hand, Zilfina Rubio Ames, and Ping Yu

We estimate that Hurricane Helene’s damages to Georgia agriculture and forestry will cost the state economy at least $5.5 billion in 2024 present value. This figure represents the sum of direct crop losses, losses to firms that support agriculture and forestry, losses to workers in those and related industries, and the recovery and restoration costs that firms in these industries will face. The Georgia Forestry Commission is a collaborator with UGA on this publication.

Estimating the Impact of the Storm on State Agriculture

Hurricane Helene made landfall on Sept. 26, 2024, before cutting across the state of Georgia’s agriculture- and forestry-rich production areas. According to the Georgia Department of Agriculture, the storm affected every crop that Georgia farmers produce. Estimates contained in this document are based on projections by University of Georgia commodity analysts, Georgia Forestry Commission foresters, and a model of Georgia’s state economy.

Visit our Hurricane Helene topic page for this report in HTML format.