U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is calling attention to months-long delays by state and federal agriculture agencies to deliver relief to farm communities devastated by Hurricane Helene last September.
In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tyler Harper, Ossoff asked why a federal block grant agreement still hasn’t been finalized more than nine months after the storm struck and more than six months after Congress appropriated disaster aid.
Ossoff pressed the federal and state agriculture agencies to provide an update on the timetable for completion of the block grant agreement within one week.
The massive hurricane roared through South Georgia and north through the Augusta area in late September, killing 34 and causing heavy rainfall and widespread flooding, as well as extensive power outages.
