Drought Destroys More Crops in CO, ID, OR, TX, UT

Drought Disaster Declared for 34 Additional Counties in Five States

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 34 additional counties across five states—Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Texas and Utah—as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by the drought.

The drought disaster designations are for the following areas

• Colorado: Garfield, Moffat and Rio Blanco counties.
• Idaho: Ada, Blaine, Boise, Camas, Custer, Elmore, Gooding, Owyhee and Twin Falls counties.
• Oregon:  Crook, Gilliam, Grant, Jefferson, Morrow,Wasco and Wheeler counties.
• Texas: Bell, Bosque, Coryell, Hamilton, Lampasas and McLennan counties.
• Utah: Carbon, Daggett, Duchesne, Emery, Grand, Summit, Uintah, Utah and Wasatch counties.

US Crops Experiencing Drought (as of last week)
Approximate Percentage of Corn Located in Drought: 26%
Approximate Percentage of Soybeans Located in Drought: 22%
Approximate Percentage of Hay Acreage Located in Drought: 28%
Approximate Percentage of Cattle Inventory Located in Drought: 37%
Approximate Percentage of Winter Wheat Production Located in Drought: 43%
[Source: USDA Agricultural Weather Assessments World Agricultural Outlook Board]

Crop Disasters 2015

Beginning January 7, 2015 USDA has declared crop disasters in at least an 1,169 counties across 20  states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.

Majority of the 2015 crop disaster designations so far 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 were:

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 as 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 May 13, 2015 and posted on their website in four separate declarations.

Related Links

• Drought Destroys more Crops in ID, NV, OR, UT May 7, 2015
• Crop Disasters Declared in AZ, ID, NV, OR, UT April 23, 2015
• Federal Disasters
• Drought
• Agricultural Disasters Index

Third Major Disaster Declared for Kentucky

Kentucky Declared Federal Disaster Area

Kentucky Severe Winter Storm, Snowstorm, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides (DR-4218)

The White House has declared a major disaster exists in the Commonwealth of Kentucky in the areas affected by the severe winter storm, snowstorm, flooding, landslides, and mudslides during the period of March 3-9, 2015.

Some 57 counties worst affected by the severe winter storm, snowstorm, flooding, landslides, and mudslides are Anderson, Bell, Bourbon, Boyd, Breathitt, Bullitt, Butler, Calloway, Carter, Casey, Clay, Daviess, Elliott, Estill, Fleming, Floyd, Franklin, Fulton, Gallatin, Grant, Greenup, Hancock, Harrison, Hart, Jackson, Johnson, Knott, Knox, LaRue, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, Magoffin, Marshall, Martin, Mason, Menifee, Metcalfe, Morgan, Nicholas, Ohio, Owen, Owsley, Perry, Pike, Powell, Robertson,  Rockcastle, Rowan, Spencer, Trigg, Washington, Webster, Whitley, and Woodford.

Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the commonwealth and warranted by the results of further damage assessments, said the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected areas.

This is the third Major Disaster Declaration proclaimed for Kentucky so far this month.

Related Links

• Disaster Aid for “Kentucky Survivors of April Storms” (DR-4217) May 7, 2015
• Major Disaster Declared for Kentucky (DR-4216) May 1, 2015
• Major Disaster Declared for Georgia (DR-4215) April 22, 2015
• Federal Disaster Declarations
• Drought
• Agricultural Disasters Index