State of Emergency Declared in Washington

RAPID CLIMATE CHANGE
EXTREME WEATHER & CLIMATIC DISASTERS
RECORD RAINFALL
SEVERE WINTER STORM
RISING TEMPERATURES, ABNORMAL SNOWMELT, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES
STATE OF EMERGENCY
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Severe winter storm causes extensive damage in 9 WA counties

Gov. Inslee has proclaimed a state of emergency for nine Washington counties in the wake of a severe winter storm that battered the region causing extensive damage to roads and other infrastructure January 4 through 6.

The emergency proclamation is for Grays Harbor, King, Kittitas, Lewis, Pacific, Pierce, Skagit, Wahkiakum, and Whatcom counties.

“The governor noted in his proclamation that heavy rain and unseasonable snowmelt from this week’s storm combined with soils saturated by previous storms to cause slope erosion and landslides that impacted state and local roadways,” said a statement released by his office.

“WHEREAS,from November 25 through December 12, 2014, Western Washington received record rainfall from multiple storms resulting in saturated soil and slope erosion throughout the area; and […] from January 4 through 6, 2015, another significant winter storm struck Western Washington, producing extreme rainfall and above normal temperatures throughout the lowlands and mountain snowpack elevations; and […] the heavy rainfall from this storm combined with unseasonable snowmelt compounded existing soil saturation resulted in flooding, additional slope erosion, and landslides causing extensive damage to roadways, road closures and restricted access to affected areas in Grays Harbor, King, Kittitas, Lewis, Pacific, Pierce, Skagit, Wahkiakum, and Whatcom counties, affecting the life, health, and safety [of the public,]” said the proclamation.

Crop Disasters Declared for 220 Counties in Three States

RAPID CLIMATE CHANGE
EXTREME WEATHER & CLIMATIC DISASTERS
DROUGHT
CROP DISASTERS
SCENARIOS  900, [500,] 444, 117, 111, 100, 067, 03, 02
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Persistent Drought Destroys or Damages Crops in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated a total of 220 counties in three states—Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico—as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a lingering drought that occurred from January 1, 2014, and continues.

Texas:

Oklahoma: Beaver, Cotton, Jefferson, Roger Mills, Beckham, Ellis, Love, Texas, Bryan, Harmon, Marshall, Tillman, Cimarron and Jackson counties.

New Mexico: Curry, Lea, Quay, Union, Dona Ana, Otero and Roosevelt counties.

Crop Disasters 2015

Beginning January 7, 2015 USDA has declared crop disasters in  220 counties across three states. All of those disaster designations are due to drought.

Crop Disasters 2014

In 2014 USDA declared crop disasters in at least 2,904 counties across 44 states. Most of the designations were due to drought.

Those states are

• Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan. Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. [FIRE-EARTH has documented all of the above listings. See blog content.]

Notes:
i. USDA trigger point for a countywide disaster declaration is 30 percent crop loss on at least one crop.

ii. The counties designated as agricultural disaster areas, as listed above, include both primary and contiguous disaster areas.

iii. Some counties may have been designated crop disaster areas more than once due to multiple disasters.

iv. The U.S. has a total of 3,143 counties and county-equivalents.

v. The disaster designations posted above were approved by USDA on January 7, 2015.

Crop Disaster Declarations in 2014

• Crop Disasters Declared in 3 States December 25, 2014
• Federal Disasters
• Drought
• Agricultural Disasters Index

Major Disaster Declared in the State of Mississippi

EXTREME WEATHER & CLIMATIC DISASTERS
SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES
FEDERAL DISASTER DECLARED
SCENARIOS: 900, [500,] 477, 444, 111, 088, 066
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Federal Disaster Declared for The  Hospitality State

Mississippi Federal Disaster Declaration (DR-4205)

The White House has declared a major disaster exists in the State of Mississippi in the area affected by severe storms and tornadoes on December 23, 2014.

The area worst affected by the severe storms and tornadoes is Marion County.

The Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area said additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

Related Links

• Federal Disaster Declared for New York State December 23, 2014
• Major Disasters Declared in Arizona, Nevada  November 7, 2014
• Federal Disaster Declarations 2014
• Federal Disasters
• Drought
• Agricultural Disasters Index