Hurricane Debby, a Category 1 storm that made landfall near Steinhatchee, Fla., caused between $93.7 and $263.2 million in damage, according to to a preliminary economic impact analysis from the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, based on producer surveys and observations from past events.
While 68% of the 2.2 million acres damaged from Hurricane Debby are used for grazing, the report shows the potential losses for greenhouse and nursery production to be between $15 million to $53.6 million.
Hurricane Idalia, a Category 3 storm, impacted nearly 3.5 million acres last year and caused agricultural production losses valued at $276 million.
“Hurricane Debby’s path through the state largely mirrored Hurricane Idalia’s; however. no two storms are alike,” Christa Court, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Economic Impact Analysis Program director, said in a news release. “While Idalia brought more intense winds, Debby was a wetter storm with more agricultural lands experiencing flooding.”
The report says the brunt of Hurricane Debbie hit Suwannee, Taylor, Lafayette and Dixie counties, but tropical storm-force winds and heavy rain extended as far south as Lee County. Parts of northern and southwest Florida, including Suwannee, Manatee and Sarasota counties, experienced more than 15 inches of rain Aug. 2-8.
Across commodity groups, 41.6% of the agricultural land impacted experienced low-intensity weather conditions, 56.3% experienced moderate-intensity weather conditions and 2.1% experienced high-intensity weather conditions, according to the report.
The hurricane damaged agricultural lands that collectively generate more than $3 billion worth of products each year, according to the report.
“In the early days and weeks after a hurricane event, many agricultural operations are unsure of the true extent of impacts of the event on their growing operations,” Court said. “Also, many crops within the vegetables, melons and potatoes commodity group were out of season or not yet planted, and many growers experiencing zero or minimal impacts on their operations do not report this information. We will continue to collect information specific to Hurricane Debby, which will improve the accuracy of these estimates in our final report.”
