Major Disaster Declared for Texas

Texas Declared Federal Disaster Area

Texas Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, and Flooding (DR-4245)

• Incident period: October 22, 2015 to October 31, 2015
• Major Disaster Declaration declared on November 25, 2015

The White House has declared a major disaster exists in the State of Texas in the area affected by severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds, and flooding during the period of October 22-31, 2015.

The hardest hit areas include the counties of Bastrop, Brazoria, Caldwell, Comal, Galveston, Guadalupe, Hardin, Harris, Hays, Hidalgo, Liberty, Navarro, Travis, Willacy, and Wilson.

Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments, federal officials said.

• Some 90 Major Disasters Declaration have been declared for the state of Texas since 1953.

Federal Disaster Declarations (2015)

The federal government has proclaimed 41 Major Disaster Declaration [DR 4205-4245] for a U.S. state/tribal area/territory so far this year. Additionally, the government has issued two Emergency Declarations, EM-3372 and EM-3373, and 34 Fire Management Assistance Declarations, [FM-5084 to FM-5117] for the year to date.

Major Disaster Declarations Since October 2015

• Major Disaster Declared in Alaska [DR-4244] October 31, 2015
• 2ND Major Disaster Declaration for Washington [DR-4243] October 22, 2015
• Major Disaster Declared for Washington [DR-4242] October 16, 2015
• Major Disaster Declared in South Carolina [DR-4241] October 6, 2015
• Federal Disaster Declarations
• Drought
• Agricultural Disasters Index

Strong Aftershock Strikes Brazil

M6.7 aftershock occurs  SSW of Tarauaca, Brazil

The event, strongest of a dozen aftershocks to occur in the region, followed a powerful earthquake doublet that struck Peru-Brazil border region about 31 hours earlier.

Event Detail
Magnitude: 6.7Mw
Location: 9.191°S, 71.288°W  ()
Depth: 599.4km
Time: 2015-11-26 05:45:18 UTC
Nearby Cities

• 127km (79mi) SSW of Tarauaca, Brazil
• 153km (95mi) SW of Feijo, Brazil
• 230km (143mi) SE of Cruzeiro Do Sul, Brazil
• 289km (180mi) W of Sena Madureira, Brazil
• 702km (436mi) ENE of Lima, Peru
  Source: USGS/EHP

Related Links

• Powerful Earthquake Doublet Strike Peru-Brazil Border November 25, 2015

Multiple Crop Disasters Declared in Michigan and Ohio

68 Counties in two states designated as crop disaster areas

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has declared 68 counties in the states of Michigan and Ohio as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by multiple disasters that occurred during the 2015 crop year.

Disaster Designation No. 1

USDA has designated a total of 44 counties in Michigan and Ohio as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by extreme weather events including excessive rain, flooding, hail and high winds that occurred from April 1, 2015, through Aug. 17, 2015. Those counties are:

Michigan. Allegan, Arenac, Bay, Berrien, Calhoun, Cass, Clare, Clinton, Eaton, Gladwin, Gratiot, Hillsdale, Ingham, Ionia, Isabella, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Kent, Lapeer, Lenawee, Livingston, Macomb, Mecosta, Midland, Missaukee, Monroe, Montcalm, Muskegon, Oakland, Ogemaw, Osceola, Ottawa, Roscommon, Saginaw, Sanilac, Shiawassee, St. Clair, St. Joseph, Tuscola, Van Buren, Washtenaw and Wayne.

Ohio. Fulton and Lucas.

Disaster Designation No. 2

USDA has also designated 24 counties in Michigan as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by drought, excessive rain, hail and high winds that occurred from April 1, 2015, through Sept. 10, 2015. Those counties are:

Michigan. Alcona, Alger, Alpena, Antrim, Benzie, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Chippewa, Crawford, Grand Traverse, Iosco, Kalkaska, Leelanau, Luce, Mackinac, Manistee, Missaukee, Montmorency, Ogemaw, Oscoda, Otsego, Presque Isle, Schoolcraft and Wexford.

All counties listed above were designated as crop disaster areas on Nov. 25, 2015.

Crop Disasters 2015

Beginning January 7, 2015 USDA has declared crop disasters in at least 3,865 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

• Multiple Crop Disasters Declared in Six U.S. States November 22, 2015
• Crop Disasters Declared in Puerto Rico November 13, 2015
• Crop Disasters Declared in 10 U.S. States November 5, 2015
• Drought
• Agricultural Disasters Index