Crop Disasters Declared in Texas, Utah, Oklahoma, Nevada and Hawaii

Extreme weather and climatic events destroy crops in 39 counties across five U.S. states

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated the counties of  Hawaii, Kalawao and Maui in the state of Hawaii as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought.

Two separate designations have been issued since April 13.

USDA has also designated eight counties in two other states—Nevada and Utah—as crop disaster areas due to drought.  Those counties are:

• Nevada. Elko, Eureka, Lincoln, Nye, and White Pine.

• Utah. Juab, Millard and Tooel.

Excessive rain and moisture destroy or damage crops in Texas, Oklahoma

USDA has designated a total of 28 counties in Texas and Oklahoma as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by excessive rain and moisture that occurred from Oct. 23, 2015, through Jan. 10, 2016. Those counties are:

• Texas. Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Delta, Denton, Ellis, Fannin, Franklin, Grayson, Henderson, Hill, Hopkins, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Lamar, Montague, Navarro, Rains, Red River, Rockwall, Tarrant, Van Zandt and Wise.

• Oklahoma. Bryan, Choctaw, Love and Marshall.

Notes:
i. USDA trigger point for a countywide disaster declaration is 30 percent crop loss on one or more crops.

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.

Previous Disaster Designations – 2016:

• Crop Disasters Declared in Montana; Wildfire Emergencies in Kansas, Oklahoma
• Crop Disasters Declared in North Carolina March 31, 2016
• Crop Disasters Declared in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Puerto Rico March 26, 2016
• Crop Disasters Declared in Florida, Georgia  March 18, 2016
• Multiple Crop Disasters Declared in Nine U.S. States March 4, 2016

• Multiple Crop Disasters Hit Eight U.S. States February 29, 2016
• Crop Disasters Declared in Montana February 25, 2016
• Crop Disasters Declared in the U.S. States of North Carolina and Virginia February 11, 2016

• Crop Disasters Declared in Two U.S. States February 5, 2016
• Extreme Weather Events Destroy Crops in Georgia & the Carolinas January 24, 2016
• Multiple Crop Disasters Declared in Three U.S. States January 9, 2016
• Drought
• Agricultural Disasters Index

Vietnam Reports Mass Fish Deaths

Millions of dead fish litter miles of Vietnam’s coasts

Massive numbers of dead fish including rare species that live in the deep and other marine species have been founds on beaches of Vietnam’s central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Tri, Quang Binh and Hue, said reports.

State news outlet Thanh Nien quoted worried locals saying they dared not eat any of the washed up fish, adding in their report that “all signs (are) pointing to an environmental disaster.”

Central Ha Tinh province is home to a sprawling economic zone which houses numerous industrial plants, including a multi-billion dollar steel plant run by Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa.

In 2015, Vietnam earned USD6.6 billion from seafood exports, said the report.

Read more…

Significant Seismicity Occurs near Ecuador Disaster Area

M6.0 and aftershocks rattle Ecuador coastal area

M6.0 event occurs 33km NNW of Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador.

EQ Details

Magnitude: 6.0Mw [USGS/EHP]
Location: 0.328°S, 80.543°W
Depth: 10.0 km
Time: 2016-04-22 03:03:41 UTC
224.0 km (139.2 mi) W of Quito, Ecuador

Aftershocks

• M4.8 about 39km NNW of Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador 2016-04-22 08:52:24 UTC; depth=46.6 km
• M5.0 about 27km NW of Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador 2016-04-22 04:31:34 UTC; depth=11.0 km
• M5.8 about 36km NNW of Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador 2016-04-22 03:20:13 UTC; depth=10.0 km