Ag News
USDA offers financial assistance for Helene farm damage
Posted on Oct 23, 2024 at 23:27 PM
On Oct. 15, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced additional assistance from the USDA to help producers impacted by Hurricane Helene in the recovery process. USDA also announced counties that have triggered for payment under the Hurricane Insurance Protection-Wind Index (HIP-WI) endorsement for Hurricane Helene. Approved Insurance Providers (AIP) have 30 days to issue payments to producers.
USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) first offered HIP-WI for the 2020 hurricane season, and last year, the endorsement was expanded to include the Tropical Storm Option (TS). Under HIP-WI and TS, producers with the endorsement will receive more than $233 million in indemnities for hurricane-related losses from Hurricane Helene. These payments will directly help farmers and rural communities recover.
At the time of the announcement, Hurricane Helene’s estimated indemnities for both HIP-WI and TS policies in Georgia totaled $207.7 million.
These payments are in addition to those made for hurricanes Beryl, Debby and Francine. The USDA noted that more than $630 million in payments have been issued nationwide under HIP-WI and TS in 2024.
A full list of FSA disaster assistance programs is available on the Hurricane webpage on www.farmers.gov.
Emergency Procedures
Due to the catastrophic damage that Hurricane Helene caused in the southeast as well as the continuing impacts from Hurricane Debby, RMA authorized emergency procedures to help producers with hurricane-related losses.
The USDA indicated that RMA is working with crop insurance companies to streamline and accelerate the adjustment of losses and issuance of indemnity payments to crop insurance policyholders in impacted areas.
RMA’s emergency procedure flexibilities apply to all counties in Georgia impacted by Hurricane Helene or Hurricane Debby.
Additional information on these emergency procedures is available on RMA’s Hurricanes Helene and Debby webpage.
More Information
Producers do not need to file a claim to receive an indemnity payment under HIP-WI. If a county is triggered, the AIP will issue an indemnity payment in the coming weeks. Triggered counties were identified by RMA in Product Management Bulletin 24-067. In Georgia, they include 58 counties under HIP-WI and 87 counties under TS.
Eligible producers will receive a HIP-WI indemnity payment in addition to any applicable indemnity payments due to them through their underlying crop insurance policy. AIPs are using the standard notice of loss and claims process to timely process those underlying crop insurance policy claims.
HIP-WI covers a portion of the deductible of the underlying crop insurance policy when the county, or an adjacent one, is hit with sustained hurricane-force winds from a named hurricane based on data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The National Center for Environmental Information located in Asheville, N.C., was severely impacted by Hurricane Helene with no timetable for operational capability. This center maintains the IBTrACS, which is the data normally used for HIP-WI. In accordance with the provisions in the HIP-WI policy and the interest of issuing payments to producers as quickly as possible, RMA used data from the National Hurricane Center to publish the initial triggers for Hurricane Helene. Once the IBTrACS data becomes available, RMA will analyze the data and publish any additional triggers. This does not impact the underlying policy, and additional payments could be made on those as claims are completed.
TS covers named tropical storms, as reported by NOAA, with maximum sustained winds exceeding 34 knots and precipitation of at least six inches over a four-day period. Both the wind trigger and precipitation trigger must occur for an indemnity to be paid.
The HIP-WI endorsement, including the Tropical Storm Option, are available in select counties in a number of eastern states, including Georgia.
During the past four years, HIP-WI has been a successful risk management tool for many in affected areas, with over $1.1 billion paid in indemnities to date.
To find additional information about the policy, including frequently asked questions, videos, and a fact sheet, please visit the HIP-WI website.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is encouraging business owners to continue applying for SBA disaster loans even though the agency has exhausted funding for additional loans. The extension of loan offers is paused until Congress authorizes more funds after it returns in November, according to an Oct. 15 SBA press release. SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman indicated that continuing the application process can expedite approvals and assistance once funding is replenished.
Click here for information about SBA’s disaster assistance for Hurricane Helene victims, including which areas are eligible, types of loans, help with the application process, and links to what other federal agencies are doing in response to the hurricane.
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