Multiple Crop Disasters Declared in Six U.S. States

124 Counties in six states designated as crop disaster areas

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has declared 124 counties in six states—Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia—as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by the combined effects of excessive rain, flash flooding, flooding, excessive heat, landslides, mudslides, high winds, hail and lightning that occurred during the period of March 1, 2015, through Aug. 25, 2015.

Those counties are:

Ohio. Adams, Allen, Ashland, Ashtabula, Athens, Auglaize, Belmont, Brown, Butler, Carroll, Champaign, Clark, Clermont, Clinton, Columbiana, Coshocton, Crawford, Cuyahoga, Darke, Defiance, Delaware, Erie, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton, Gallia, Geauga, Greene, Guernsey, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Harrison, Henry, Highland, Hocking, Holmes, Huron, Jackson, Jefferson, Knox, Lake, Lawrence, Licking, Logan, Lorain, Lucas, Madison, Mahoning, Marion, Medina, Meigs, Mercer, Miami, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Morrow, Muskingum, Noble, Ottawa, Paulding, Perry, Pickaway, Pike, Portage, Preble, Putnam, Richland, Ross, Sandusky, Scioto, Seneca, Shelby, Stark, Summit, Trumbull, Tuscarawas, Union, Van, Vinton, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Wert, Williams, Wood and Wyandot. (88 counties)

Indiana. Adams, Allen, Dearborn, DeKalb, Franklin, Jay, Union and Wayne. (8)

Kentucky. Boone, Boyd, Bracken, Campbell, Greenup, Kenton, Lewis, Mason and Pendleton. (9)

Michigan. Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe. (3)

Pennsylvania. Beaver, Crawford, Erie, Lawrence and Mercer. (5)

West Virginia. Cabell, Hancock, Jackson, Marshall, Mason, Ohio, Pleasants, Tyler, Wayne, Wetzel and Wood. (11)

All counties listed above were designated as crop disaster areas on Nov. 19, 2015.

Crop Disasters 2015

Beginning January 7, 2015 USDA has declared crop disasters in at least 3,797 counties and county equivalents across 46 States [as well as Puerto Rico, and US Virgin Islands]: Those states are Arizona, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.

• About 99 percent of the 2015 crop disaster designations have been 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.

Related Links

• Crop Disasters Declared in Puerto Rico November 13, 2015
• Crop Disasters Declared in 10 U.S. States November 5, 2015
• More Crops Destroyed by EWE in Nine U.S. States October 29, 2015
• Drought
• Agricultural Disasters Index

‘Myanmar Government’s Big State Secret’ Leaves Hundreds Dead or Missing

Up to 200 dead or missing in massive landslide near jade mine in N. Myanmar

A landslide near a jade mine in northern Myanmar has killed about 100 people and left more than 100 others missing, according to reports.

The incident occurred in Kachin state, home to the most valuable jade mines in the world.

Most of the victims were poor villagers sifting through mountains of waste rubble, “dumped by mechanical diggers used by the mining firms in the area to extract Myanmar’s most valuable precious stone,” according to AFP.

“The area has been turned into a moonscape of environmental destruction as huge diggers gouge the earth looking for jade.”

Landslides occur regularly in the area and many have been killed so far this year as people living off the industry’s waste, in the hope of finding a piece of jade worth thousands of dollars, search through mountains of rubble at night, said the report.

Additionally, itinerant miners are attracted from all parts of the country “by the promise of riches and become easy prey for drug addiction in Hpakant, where heroin and methamphetamine are cheaply available on the streets,” reported AFP.

“Jade is Myanmar government’s big state secret”

The jade trade, “controlled by the military elites,” raked in about “US$31 billion in 2014 alone,” more than 10 times the official declaration. “That is equivalent to nearly half the GDP of the whole country, which badly needs it. But hardly any of the money is reaching ordinary people or state coffers, said a report.