Drought Disaster Declared in 32 Additional Texas Counties

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 32 counties in Texas as drought disaster areas, due to damages and losses caused by the ongoing drought.

U.S. Drought Disaster Map. This USDA/FSA map shows 1,044 counties designated as drought disaster areas across 25 states, as of April 3, 2013.

The designation include both primary and contiguous disaster areas. The counties are:

• (PDA) Brazos, Frio, Harris, Wharton, Colorado, Grimes and Montgomery.
• (CDA) Atascosa, Dimmit, La Salle, Madison, Uvalde, Austin, Fayette, Lavaca, Matagorda, Walker, Brazoria, Fort Bend, Leon, Medina, Waller, Burleson, Galveston, Liberty, Robertson, Washington, Chambers, Jackson, McMullen, San Jacinto and Zavala.

As of April 2, 2013, more than 2/3 of Contiguous U.S. remained abnormally dry or worse.

• About 52 percent of the contiguous U.S. was in moderate drought or worse, as of April 2, 2013.
• The map shows 35.30 percent in severe drought or worse; 17.13 percent in extreme drought or worse; and 5.20 percent in exceptional drought, compared with 5.10 percent the preceding week.

Other Disaster Declarations

Florida. USDA has also designated 19 counties in Florida as agricultural disaster areas in three separate designations due to various disasters.

• Designation #1 is for (PDA) Flagler, Putnam and St. Johns counties, and (CDA), Alachua, Clay, Duval, Marion and Volusia counties  due to freezes and frosts that occurred Feb. 17 – March 4, 2013.
• Designation #2 is for (PDA) Holmes and Washington counties, and (CDA), Bay, Jackson and Walton counties due to frosts, excessive rain, flooding, flash flooding and high winds that occurred Feb. 4 – March 4, 2013.
  
• Designation #3 is for (PDA) Palm Beach County, and (CDA), Broward, Glades, Hendry, Martin and Okeechobee counties due to freezes, frosts and high winds that occurred March 3-4, 2013.
  

FIRE-EARTH Drought Links 2013

• U-S Drought 2013: Fueled by Heat from Hell? January 31, 2013 [FIRE-EARTH Forecast]
• US: Drought Disaster 2013 [Index Page]