Recovering from Disaster: How Natural Disasters Impact Rural Georgia

Hello! My name is Taylor Siefken, and I am the lead for the Economic Development Center. Through this post, I hope to familiarize you with a topic that may be foreign to many: disaster management. I study disaster management here at UGA, and in this piece I aim to show the interconnectedness of this concept and economic development here in Georgia.

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated just how much a disaster can impact a nation’s economy. Quarantine mandates left many people unable to work, prompting a decrease in production and an increase in the prices of goods. Rising prices led to more and more people struggling to afford basic items due to a lowered income, with 3.0% and 2.1% median income decreases for low-income and middle-income households. But eventually, the government lifted quarantines and businesses returned to operating in higher capacities.  With these returns to normalcy, slowly but surely the public began to forget about how much a virus managed to economically cripple them. 

However, while many areas can regain stability, other places and communities struggle to recover from the aftermath of disasters. This disparity is seen from a recent natural disaster: Hurricane Helene. The hurricane swept across the southeastern United States in September of last year, catching many communities by surprise. A total of 41 counties in Georgia were given a major disaster declaration following the hurricane. After recently visiting Emanuel County, which was largely impacted by Helene, I witnessed the extent of the damages and continuing economic calamities ensuing from the disaster. 

Southeastern Georgia consists primarily of rural communities, with many relying on agricultural industries for their income. For example, timber is one of the top industries in Emanuel County, and when Hurricane Helene struck, it tore through pine trees like wrapping paper. Within two weeks, damaged trees that had fallen from the storm had dried and could no longer be sold, leaving the area with a tremendous amount of lost profits. The Georgia Forestry Commission announced in a preliminary estimate that Hurricane Helene resulted in a $6.46 billion loss for Georgia agriculture. Unlike in cities and counties that rely on other industries, those dependent on agriculture can not simply rebuild a building or start teleworking to begin economic recovery. Trees can take decades to grow, and crops are only viable in certain parts of the year. So, what can an agricultural community be expected to do to recover their economy in the wake of a disaster?

At the moment, the answer is very little. While in recent years, state and national entities have made assistance programs that help farmers and agricultural communities, the programs tend not to operate in a long-term capacity. A person who grows pine or pecan trees may be able to get a loan to help cover the cost of clearing fallen trees and planting new ones in their place, but that does not account for the years it would take for those new trees to be ready to harvest. 

This is why organizations such as GEMA (Georgia Emergency Management Agency) and FEMA (Federal Emergency Agency) must establish long-term recovery programs to specifically account for rural, agricultural communities that rely on producing goods like timber  for economic stability. This is crucial for effective disaster recovery. During the mitigation and pre-planning phases, emergency management groups must consider the major industries in the affected communities to allow for the areas to make a faster financial recovery. 

It can be easy for us to forget about the challenges that occur in more rural parts of Georgia, especially when Hurricane Helene didn’t heavily impact Athens. However, it is still important to look at what difficulties our neighboring communities face and assess what can be done to support their recoveries.