Extreme Weather Events Destroy Crops in Ten States and Puerto Rico

Drought and deluge kill crops in 294 U.S. counties and municipalities

USDA declares crop disasters in Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon and Puerto Rico.

Crop Disaster Areas Designation # 1

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated all but one of the counties [Lake County] in the State of Illinois as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by excessive rain and flooding that occurred during the period of June 1, 2015, and continues.

Illinois: Adams, Alexander, Bond, Boone, Brown, Bureau, Calhoun, Carroll, Cass, Champaign, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Coles, Cook, Crawford, Cumberland, DeKalb, DeWitt, Douglas, DuPage, Edgar, Edwards, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Franklin, Fulton, Gallatin, Greene, Grundy, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Henderson, Henry, Iroquois, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jersey, Jo Daviess, Johnson, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Knox, La Salle, Lawrence, Lee, Livingston, Logan, Macon, Macoupin, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Mason, Massac, McDonough, McHenry, McLean, Menard, Mercer, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie, Ogle, Peoria, Perry, Piatt, Pike, Pope, Pulaski, Putnam, Randolph, Richland, Rock Island, St. Clair, Saline, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, Shelby,  Stark, Stephenson, Tazewell, Union, Vermilion, Wabash, Warren, Washington, Wayne, White, Whiteside, Will, Williamson, Winnebago and Woodford counties.

Indiana: Benton, Knox, Newton, Sullivan, Vigo, Gibson, Lake, Posey, Vermillion and Warren counties.

Iowa: Clinton, Jackson, Louisa, Scott, Des Moines, Lee and Muscatine counties.

Kentucky: Ballard, Crittenden, Livingston, McCracken and Union counties.

Missouri: Cape Girardeau, Marion, Saint Charles, Clark, Mississippi, Sainte Genevieve, Jefferson, Perry, Saint Louis, Lewis, Pike, Saint Louis City, Lincoln, Ralls and Scott counties.

Crop Disaster Areas Designation # 2

USDA has designated a total of 88 counties in Indiana as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by excessive rain and flooding that occurred during the period of May 1, 2015, and continues.

Indiana: Adams, Allen, Bartholomew, Benton, Blackford, Boone, Brown, Carroll, Cass, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Crawford, Daviess, Dearborn, Decatur, DeKalb, Delaware, Dubois, Elkhart, Fayette, Floyd, Fountain, Franklin, Fulton, Gibson, Grant, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Harrison, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Huntington, Jackson, Jasper, Jay, Jefferson, Jennings, Johnson, Knox, Kosciusko, Lake, LaPorte, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Martin, Miami, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Newton, Noble, Ohio, Orange, Owen, Parke, Pike, Porter, Posey, Pulaski, Putnam, Randolph, Ripley, Rush, St. Joseph, Scott, Shelby, Starke, Sullivan, Switzerland, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Union, Vanderburgh, Vermillion, Vigo, Wabash, Warren, Warrick, Washington, Wayne, Wells, White and Whitley counties.

Illinois: Clark, Crawford, Iroquois, Lawrence, White, Cook, Edgar, Kankakee, Wabash and Will counties.

Kentucky: Boone, Carroll, Gallatin and Trimble counties.

Michigan: Berrien and Cass counties.

Ohio: Butler, Defiance, Mercer, Preble, Darke, Hamilton, Paulding and Van Wert counties.

Crop Disaster Areas Designation # 3

USDA has designated a total of eight counties in Idaho and Montana as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought.

Idaho: Butte, Clark, Custer, Idaho, Lemhi and Valley counties.

Montana: Beaverhead and Ravalli counties.

Crop Disaster Areas Designation # 4

USDA has designated ten counties in Oregon as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought.

Oregon: Clackamas, Hood River, Jefferson, Linn, Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Wasco, Washington and Yamhill counties.

Crop Disaster Areas Designation # 5

USDA has designated 28 municipalities in Puerto Rico as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought.

Puerto Rico: Aguas Buenas, Aibonito, Arroyo, Barranquitas, Caguas, Canovanas, Carolina, Cayey, Ceiba, Cidra, Fajardo, Guayama, Gurabo, Humacao, Juncos, Patillas, Comerio, Las Piedras, Loiza, Rio Grande, Luquillo, Maunabo, Naguabo, Salinas, San Juan, San Lorenzo,Trujillo Alto and Yabucoa municipalities.

****************** U.S. Drought Monitor *****************

Week	None	D0-D4	D1-D4	D2-D4	D3-D4	D4
2015-08-11	51.65	48.35	27.52	14.97	7.69	2.51
2015-08-04	52.97	47.03	26.02	14.62	7.37	2.36

************* Total US Weekly Comparison Stats  *************

Crop Disasters 2015

Beginning January 7, 2015 USDA has declared crop disasters in at least 1,986 counties, or county equivalents, across 32 States: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.

USDA has also designated a total of 36 municipalities in Puerto Rico as drought disaster areas in the last two weeks.

About 99 percent of the 2015 crop disaster designations are due to drought so far this year.

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 August 12, 2015.

Related Links

• Drought destroys crops in 5 states and Puerto Rico August 6, 2015
• Extreme Weather Events Destroy Crops in 10 States July 30, 2015
• Crop Disasters Declared in Six States July 23, 2015
• Drought Destroys Crops in Florida, Idaho , Montana, Utah, Washington & Puerto Rico July 16, 2015
• U.S. Drought: Crop Disaster Declared for Idaho Counties July 10, 2015
• Drought Destroys Crops in Six U.S. States July 2, 2015
• Drought and Deluge, Hail and Severe Freezing Destroy Crops in 7 States June 25, 2015
• Drought
• Agricultural Disasters Index

China Explosions: Dozens Dead, Hundreds Injured

Powerful Tianjin blasts kills 44, injures 521

The death toll from powerful explosions in the northern Chinese port of Tianjin has climbed to 44, including 12 firecrews, reported the official Xinhua news agency.

At least 521 people have been hospitalized including 52 critically injured, said the report.

Up to 40 people are reported as missing, according to other reports.

A total of 3,500 people have been relocated to 10 nearby schools, Zhang Yong, head of the Binhai district government said [adding that] the number will reach to 6,000 by Thursday night…

The office building of Chinese supercomputer Tianhe-1, one of the world’s fastest supercomputers, suffered damage. Sources at Tianhe-1 told Xinhua the computer is not damaged, but they have shut down some of its operations as a precaution.

Tianhe-1 provides data services to more than 300 organizations across China, including several universities and banks.

Strong Earthquake Strikes W of Honiara, Solomon Islands

The earthquake parameters listed below are subject to change due to procedural issues at the source!

M6.4 quake strikes 180km SE of Gizo, Solomon Islands

Centered at 9.319°S, 157.934°E the event occurred at a depth of about 5.0 km (3.1 mi), said USGS/EHP.

The event was preceded by a significant foreshock measuring 5.3Mw.

Other Significant Quakes
M 5.5 – 100km NNE of Amsterdam Island, France
Location: 37.035°S, 78.055°E
Depth: 10.0 km
Time: 2015-08-13 10:39:53 UTC