Tropical Storm Ernesto's slow, soggy pass over Eastern North Carolina left about $50 million in crop damage and dozens of hog farm lagoons brimming with wastewater, state officials said Tuesday.

The storm dumped more than a foot of rain in some areas, pushing floodwater into fields and livestock and poultry operations. An estimated 44,000 chickens and turkeys drowned in Duplin County where farmers reported about $11.5 million in total crop damage.

There were no washouts and breaches of hog lagoons, ponds that hold wastewater from hog farms, but the state Division of Water Quality said at least 70 lagoons were nearing capacity, mostly in southeastern counties. The state monitors about 2,350 hog lagoons, said division spokeswoman Susan Massengale.

Massengale said inspectors reported a handful of lagoons with water 12 inches or less from the top, levels that can threaten the structure. She said some producers are removing animals from their farms or hauling off waste to bring down the level. "We do not allow them to spray on saturated fields or anything like that," Massengale said.

The N.C. Department of Agriculture said the crop losses included $16 million in damage to 26,695 acres of tobacco. The hardest hit counties included Duplin, Sampson, Greene, Craven and Columbus.

Showers and thunderstorms with locally heavy rain were forecast to develop over the region ahead of a cold front Tuesday. One to two inches of rain were expected, with locally higher amounts possible, according to the National Weather Service.

"Our crops don't need this rain," said Ed Emory, director of the cooperative extension service in Duplin County.

Emory said Ernesto damaged about 43,730 acres of Duplin County corn worth about $3.6 million. In some fields wind blew the tops off corn plants, he said, but other fields "look like a helicopter sat down in them."

The rain also soaked cotton plants with bolls that were just beginning to open, as well as soybeans, peanuts, sweet potatoes, squash, cucumbers and other crops. Emory said the drowned chickens and turkeys were significant to individual growers but represented a small fraction of the county's production.

Joe Rudek, senior scientist with the Raleigh office of Environmental Defense, an environmental organization, said the wet conditions illustrate the need to wean hog farmers from reliance on hog lagoons for waste treatment. Rudek said brimming lagoons in rainy weather force producers to spend money to move animals or haul waste.

"It certainly encourages farmers to land apply [waste] under less-than-optimum conditions," he said.

The organization is working with hog farmers on alternative waste treatment methods that produce marketable byproducts.