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As clouds continued trapping the sunshine Tuesday, Gov. Pat McCrory, and state Commissioner of Agriculture, Steve Troxler toured Bladen County and invited farmers, industry leaders and community leaders to meet at Lu Mil Vineyard in Dublin to give feedback on the impact of the non-stop rain.
The two weeks of rain every day has been devastating to parts of North and South Carolina. This week our leaders are taking the opportunity to take assessments. The crowd at the vineyard included numerous farmers, business owners, first responders, elected officials and dignitaries. Ron Taylor, with Lu Mil Vineyard, introduced the speakers and said, “We appreciate our state leaders being interested.”
McCrory said, “Our biggest concern right now is with agriculture.”
Troxler said they had seen a lot of crops drowned. He explained the federal disaster request when asked by stating, “We are still assuming it comes from the county level, to the state level, then to the governor.”
He added, “The disaster started before the flood. We had a cool wet spring, a hot, dry summer and now flooding at harvest time.”
Clarkton Farmer, Dan Ward addressed the leaders first. He said “We are seeing a lot of problems primarily with our peanut crop. Three-fourths of the peanuts are falling off the plants and we can’t harvest those, and some we still have in the ground.”
McCrory and Troxler had pre-arranged for a meeting at Ward’s farm to assess the damage.
Another speaker asked about assistance for the impact on the Agricultural Fairs in Robeson and Columbus Counties. According to the spokesperson, the fair in Robeson County has already missed five days of business due to the flooding. McCrory asked for the lady’s contact information and promised someone would be in contact with her.
EW Bowen, asked for a solution to the beaver problem in North Carolina and Stephen Burney spoke about the ditches needing to be cleaned out by state workers because of the trash rising up with the flood and spilling onto other property owners’ land.
“All of this is good information, and we will find a way to look into these issues.” McCrory said.
“Our prayers also need to be with South Carolina right now. We are going to do everything we can to help South Carolina.”
McCrory announced Fort Bragg is assisting as a supply staging headquarters for FEMA, and North Carolina has sent Blackhawk helicopters to help in the search and rescue effort in South Carolina and has already assisted in the rescue of some of our southern neighbors.
After listening to all the concerns McCrory, Troxler and others went to Clarkton to see Dan Ward’s farm. McCrory noted this is a perfect opportunity to educate people on where our crops come from – they don’t come from the grocery stores.
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Governor Pat McCrory finds another educational opportunity on Bladen County’s flood disaster
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