Rick Scott leads 15-lawmaker call for USDA to declare disaster, issue block grants for post-Helene recovery

Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott is spearheading a bipartisan call for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue a disaster declaration for Florida counties impacted by Hurricane Helene.

He and 14 other members of Congress from Florida, including Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, are also urging USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to provide financial assistance through state block grants to speed support services to Florida farmers and agriculture producers.

“Florida’s growers play a critical role in the American food economy. As one of the few states where major agricultural production can occur in the Winter and Spring months, Florida’s farms provide fresh, domestically grown food to over 100 million Americans along the eastern seaboard when it’s needed most,” the letter said.

“To support the growers and producers who were affected by Hurricane Helene, and to ensure that they can recover from losses and continue their important service of feeding America, the expeditious approval of a Disaster Declaration is necessary to have a successful Winter and Spring harvest season.”

The letter’s co-signers include Republican U.S. Reps. Kat Cammack, Mario Díaz-Balart, Neal Dunn, Scott Franklin, Matt Gaetz, Corey Mills, Bill Posey, John Rutherford, Greg Steube, and Michael Waltz. Democratic U.S. Reps. Kathy Castor, Maxwell Frost, and Darren Soto also signed the letter.

The Tuesday letter came one day after Scott, Florida’s immediate past Governor, joined Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz in asking congressional leaders to call federal lawmakers back to Washington and ensure disaster funding after the storm.

The Senator skipped the vote to be in Florida before Helene struck the state and has since expressed for a new Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster fund, which Moskowitz has sought since taking office last year.

Helene made landfall with Florida at around 11 p.m. Thursday at Category 4 strength before sweeping through Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina, destroying homes and infrastructure, killing at least 135 people, and leaving 600 others missing.

An initial estimate by financial services company CoreLogic projected commercial and residential damage in Florida and Georgia to range from $3 billion to 5 billion.

A preliminary analysis by Moody’s Analytics said the damage across all the affected states, combined with economic disruptions from school and office closures, will result in damages of between $20 billion and $34 billion.

Specific to agriculture, the damage in Florida alone could rise to $371 million, according to Jena Santoro of Everstream Analytics, who told The Food Institute crops like cotton, pecans, soybeans, peanuts, avocados and citrus were particularly impacted by the storm.