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Agricultural Damage Extensive in Alabama
Montgomery Extensive agricultural damage has been reported from farmers in South Alabama in the wake of a record-breaking Hurricane Ivan. Tim Tucker, of Uriah in Monroe County, said Tucker Farms has experienced a 100 percent loss of their pecan crop. "All the fruit has been blown off and half of our trees have been uprooted," Tucker said. "I thought I had seen several storms until I sat through this one," he added. His family and house escaped injury or damage but his barn collapsed and trapped a number of cattle inside the structure.
"You cannot imagine how it is here. I've got so much to do I don't know what to do," Tucker reported to the Alabama Farmers Federation after the storm had passed. "All our cotton is gone. What was opened was blown off the stalk. The stalks are laying down," he said. David Bitto, Baldwin County cotton farmer, reported, "It tore this place up." He said "cotton is smashed flat" but hopes to salvage some of it since only 25 percent was opened. "What's left is so tangled up I don't know if we will be able to get a cotton picker in there." He had a roof blown off the barn but was relieved that there was no damage to his house. Jesse Scott, who lives in Geneva County near Dothan, said 80 percent of his cotton crop may be destroyed. He said before the storm hit he was looking forward to one of his best yields in years.
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