Virginia farm fields sustain damage during Hurricane Irene
News Release Courtesy of Virginia Farm Bureau
News Release Courtesy of Virginia Farm Bureau
PROVIDENCE FORGE—The majority of George Copeland’s 1,300-acre corn crop in Charles City County was destroyed on Aug. 27 by winds from Hurricane Irene.
"It blew the tin off the barns," Copeland said as he surveyed the destruction, "but it could be a lot worse, because nobody got hurt."
His crop was waiting to be cut for silage, but after the storm the corn was lying flat on the ground, unsalvageable.
The majority of farm damage in the southeastern part of the state was to crops, said Daryl Butler, regional field services director for Virginia Farm Bureau Federation and an Isle of Wight County farmer.
"The crops really, really took a beating," Butler said. "My 150 acres of cotton are flattened to the ground."
Butler works with farmers in the counties of Accomack, Northampton, Surry, Isle of Wight, Sussex, Southampton and Greensville and the cities of Suffolk, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.
Generally speaking, the areas that expected the most damage—Virginia Beach and the Eastern Shore—actually fared well, according to Curtis Parker, a Virginia Farm Bureau agency manager for Accomack, Northampton and Virginia Beach.
"We had minimal damage, which included small limbs and branches on the ground, an occasional shingle or two missing and, in rare instances, a larger limb or small tree on a house or shed," Parker said. "Irene was also a tremendous rain event with localized flooding. Due to the near-drought conditions we were under, most of this rain was absorbed readily and didn’t cause a lot of problems."
In parts of Chesterfield, Dinwiddie and Prince George counties, tobacco leaves were damaged by the storm, and there was "extensive damage to cars, houses, garages, barns and other outbuildings," said Robert Fleet III, Farm Bureau agency manager for Amelia, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie and Prince George counties. He added that, on a good note, "the rain was much-needed for soybeans."
By contrast, farmers in the Shenandoah Valley "were actually disappointed … in that they received little or no rainfall from the storm," said Steve Jenkins, VFBF field services director in the valley. "Most areas have had below-average rainfall since mid-May, and it has become critical in many areas.
"Farmers here typically rely on tropical systems for late-summer/early fall rains, and these have failed to materialize for several years now," Jenkins said.
Statewide, Virginia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. had received more than 3,000 damage claims from the storm by Aug. 29. Farm Bureau officials predicted the number of claims would reach more than 8,000 once damage assessments were completed.
Contact Butler at 757-951-8171, Parker at 757-636-0461 or Fleet at 804-370-4783.