After Wednesday’s storms wreaked havoc on Jonesboro, the costly damage didn’t stop.

The storms started plowing through the more rural parts of Region 8, hitting farmlands hard.

The busted windows, dented cars, and wind-torn city buildings were easy to spot, but when you get out of the city limits and into the fields, the scars of Wednesday’s storms look a little different but just as costly.

“Oh, it’s a huge expense. Now, if the guys doesn’t have any hail insurance or greensnap insurance, it’s a huge expense as far as corn goes. We’ve lost some cotton stands too. We’ve had some beans hurt pretty severely,” said crop consultant David Hydrick. “At least the beans will come back. The cotton will have to be replanted or planted to beans. Some of it will be farmed as is, but if you don’t have hail insurance, it’s going to hurt bad. Up and down Highway 18, it’s bad.”

For those not familiar with farming, the damage may simply look like some mangled-up plants, but to those that farm these fields, this is going to impact yield.

“There’s not been much time to farm in the last three weeks. So I don’t know what, if we get back in the field, you can’t replant corn. I mean, how you gonna do that,” Hydrick stated. “It’s already five feet tall. You can’t shred it; you can’t burn it. I mean, it’s a loss. You’re gonna have to harvest what you’ve got. Now, most of the fields are not like that, but there are some fields that are almost a total loss, not a total, but it will be 100 bushels.”

Weather plays a vital role in everything these farmers do, and thankfully, the forecast calls for a break in the rain and storms next week.

Until then, the K8 Storm Team will continue to monitor the storms over the next few days, so make sure to have the K8 Weather app downloaded to your phone and alerts turned on.

Source - https://www.kait8.com