As Hurricane Florence barrels toward the Carolina coast, farmers in the state have been watching the storm closely and doing what they can to protect their crops from becoming over-flooded. The family at Rudd Farm in McLeansville is preparing for the worst while hoping for the best - both for themselves and their crops.
Generations of farming can only prepare you for so much, and a threatening hurricane isn't usually one of them. The Rudd family has been farming for four generations and - for the time being - their focus is on saving their pumpkins, their strawberries and other crops.
While most people think of drought and lack of water causing issues for farms, too much water can be just as devastating. At the farm, Matt Rudd said he can't help but err on the side of caution ahead of Florence's expected landfall Friday. He's picked his squash one month ahead of schedule.
"It could rain so much there maybe might not be any more pickings of our crop again," he explained to WFMY News 2. "We don't know... we've never seen this much rain this time of year."
He's got his farmhands working overtime to save what they can of the crop. Rudd explained that as much as 20 or even 50 percent of the crop could be lost depending on how much rain they get. The damage from the storm might even cause trouble for their strawberry crop come the spring.
"You don't think that it could potentially postpone us getting our strawberries planted on time," he continued. "Farming is a gamble out there. You hope for the best, but you don't have control over everything."