(The Center Square) – Hurricane Helene swept through Georgia one year ago, taking lives and the livelihood of Georgians from the coast to the northeast corner of the state.
The storm brewed in the Atlantic Ocean before hitting southern Georgia on Sept. 26, 2024, and weaving a path of destruction through the state.
The National Hurricane Center attributed 37 Georgia deaths to the storm, nine of them indirectly.
The University of Georgia Extension Office estimated the hurricane caused $5.5 billion in agricultural and timber losses. Georgia’s cotton farmers lost about 32.6% of their crops, a $1.31 billion impact. The hurricane caused $1.3 billion in damage to the state’s vegetable crops, the agency said in its report.
The timber industry was also left reeling with a $1.28 billion loss. That loss would be exacerbated in September 2025 when International Paper announced in August that it was closing two mills in Riceboro and two in Savannah at the end of the month. The closings will likely have an impact of $1.7 billion.
Georgia lawmakers added $867 million in hurricane relief to its fiscal year 2025 budget to help mitigate the losses. But a year later, the state is still rebuilding, Gov. Brian Kemp said Friday on social media.
“But hardworking families, business leaders, community officials, entrepreneurs and nonprofits, churches, and everyday heroes are carrying out that work with the knowledge that we will be stronger than we were before the storm,” Kemp said.
