Local Farmers Welcome Tropical Storm Fay Forecast

RURAL HALL, N.C. -- Forecasters say Tropical Storm Fay could bring much-needed rain this week to ease the drought locally, helping conditions with local farmers from getting any worse.

Farmers Welcome Chance For Rain

For Lawana Manning, a farmer in Rural Hall, the news of substantial rain is welcomed considering she is expecting a 30 percent loss on her corn crop.

"This corn ought to be 15 foot tall and have a huge ear on it," she said. "It's pretty much done all it's going to do."

On top of that, the fields where she grows hay to feed the cows are bone dry -- not a major concern right now, but it could be in the fall, she said.

A good two-day soaking rain from Tropical Storm Fay could keep things from getting worse.

The storm's track shows it bearing down on areas of Western North Carolina later this week.

That's welcomed news for Manning. "Farming is nothing but a gamble," she said. "You role the dice every spring and hope and pray you have something come fall."

But if Fay doesn't deliver the kind of rain farmers here need, all is not lost. Famers can apply for assistance through the Livestock Disaster program in Forsyth County at the Cooperative Extension Service.