Did Disaster Hit North Carolina Christmas Trees?

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More than 3 million fresh Christmas trees come from North Carolina each year, making it the second largest producer in the U.S.

Most of those grow in a region of the state walloped by Hurricane Helene in September.

"Industry wide, we do have some damage," Rodney Buchanan, owner of Buck's Tree Farm in Bakersville, North Carolina, said in an interview Thursday. "Most of what is damaged is not the trees, it's our infrastructure, it's our roads, some of our loading yard."

(​MORE: How To Help After Hurricane Helene)

B​uchanan, whose family tree farm has been in business 47 years, is among many in the area helping to clear roads and make way for trucks, emergency crews and other vehicles.

Buchanan said any issues should be transparent to consumers.

"So as far as the customers are concerned, the trees are gonna be there," he said.

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Buck's Tree Farm harvests about 3,500 Fraser fir trees a year. Because farmers typically have multiple fields in different stages of growth at once, he has about 10 times that many trees on his land.

In all, about 53 million trees are growing across some 940 farms statewide, according to T​he North Carolina Christmas Tree Association.

B​uchanan is the association's president.

“It's not a job. It is a way of life and all of us feel that way," Buchanan said of being a Christmas tree farmer.

“I've been talking to a lot of people, a lot of other growers and it's not a matter of, can I," Buchanan said. "It's ‘We will get through harvest.’”

Weather.com reporter Jan Childs covers breaking news and features related to weather, space, climate change, the environment and everything in between.