Tropical Storm Eta

Tim Hammerich

News Reporter

Topical Storm Eta made landfall in Florida twice last week, bringing with it heavy rains and strong winds. Here’s USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey.

Rippey… “Mostly we have seen some impacts across Southern Florida in the days leading up to Eta arriving across South Florida, and then during the day of landfall. We saw wind gusts in excess of 50 miles per hour, along the Southeastern Florida coast. Cities like Miami, West Palm beach, all seeing wind gusts at, or above 50 miles per hour. And we saw some excessive rainfall from November 5th through the present. And we have seen totals anywhere from 6 - 12 inches widespread across Southern Florida, particularly along the East coast. Some isolated totals as high as 16 inches or more.”

Rippey reporting there after the first landfall, the second hitting on Thursday. How are these conditions impacting agriculture in the southeast?

Rippey… “There has been some disruptions in winter vegetable planting preparations, and early planting across South Florida, especially in the Homestead area. Then we've seen some disruptions to citrus and sugar cane harvest activities across interior sections of South Florida. Otherwise, at this point we've seen relatively few impacts other than the gusty winds, the local flooding.”

Eta is one of 12 named storms to make landfall in the U.S. in 2020.