Agricultural Disaster Declared for 194 Counties in 13 States

Drought and Deluge Prompt Disaster Declarations in Multiple Regions across U.S.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 194 counties in 13 states across 5 regions as agricultural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused either by drought, or by one or more of hail, severe freezing, excessive snow, excessive rain and flooding.

• As of September 18, 2013, at least 1,345 counties and parishes, or 42.8% of all U.S. counties and county equivalents, were designated as agricultural disaster areas due to the ongoing drought.
  
• Since September 11, 2013 a total of 332 counties have been designated as Agricultural Disaster Areas.

[Notes: 1. The total number of counties designated as agricultural disaster areas includes both primary and contiguous disaster areas. 2. The USDA trigger point for a countywide disaster declaration is a 30 percent crop loss on at least one crop. 3. The U.S. has a total of 3,143 counties and county-equivalents.]

Drought Disaster

USDA has designated a total of eight counties in Idaho and Montana as Agricultural Disaster Areas.

• Idaho: Clearwater, Lewis, Idaho, Latah, Nez Perce and Shoshone counties.
• Montana: Mineral and Missoula counties.

Excessive Rain and Flooding Disasters Beginning January 1, 2013

USDA has designated 102 counties in five states—Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee—as Agricultural Disaster Areas due to damages and losses caused by excessive rain and flooding that began January 1, 2013, and continues.

• Alabama (64 Counties):  Autauga, Cleburne, Geneva, Macon, Baldwin, Coosa, Greene, Madison, Barbour, Covington, Hale, Marengo, Blount, Crenshaw, Henry, Mobile, Bullock, Cullman, Houston, Monroe, Calhoun, Dale, Jackson, Montgomery, Cherokee, Dallas, Jefferson, Morgan, Chilton, Elmore, Lamar, Perry, Choctaw, Etowah, Lauderdale, Pickens, Clarke, Fayette, Lowndes, Pike, Russell, St. Clair, Shelby, Sumter, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, Walker, Washington, Wilcox, Bibb, Coffee, Escambia, Marion, Butler, Colbert, Lawrence, Marshall, Chambers, Conecuh, Lee, Randolph, Clay, De Kalb, Limestone and Winston counties.

• Florida (5 Counties):  Escambia, Holmes, Jackson, Okaloosa and Walton.

• Georgia (13 Counties): Carroll, Clay, Floyd, Polk, Chattahoochee, Dade, Haralson, Quitman, Chattooga, Early , Muscogee, Seminole and Stewart.

• Mississippi (11 Counties): Clarke, Jackson, Lowndes, Tishomingo, George, Kemper, Monroe, Wayne, Greene, Lauderdale and Noxubee.

• Tennessee (7 Counties): Franklin, Hardin, Lincoln, Wayne, Giles, Lawrence and Marion counties.
  

Excessive Rain and Flooding Disasters Beginning May 1, 2013

USDA has designated 54 counties in three states—The Carolinas and Tennessee—as Agricultural Disaster Areas due to damages and losses caused by excessive rain and flooding that began May 1, 2013, and continues.

• North Carolina (41 Counties): Avery, Cleveland, Henderson, Rutherford, Brunswick, Columbus, Madison, Transylvania, Buncombe, Durham, Orange, Watauga, Wilson, Alamance, Chatham, Jackson, New Hanover, Ashe, Edgecombe, Johnston, Pender, Bladen, Gaston, Lincoln, Burke, Granville, McDowell, Pitt, Caldwell, Greene, Mitchell, Polk, Caswell, Haywood, Nash, Person, Robeson, Wake, Wayne, Wilkes and Yancey counties.

• South Carolina (8 Counties): Cherokee, Greenville, Oconee, Spartanburg, Dillon, Horry, Pickens and York counties.

• Tennessee (5 Counties): Carter, Cocke, Greene, Johnson and Unicoi.

Disasters caused by combined effects of severe freezing and excessive snow followed by excessive rainfall and flooding that occurred January 1 – August 2, 2013

USDA has designated 22 counties in Minnesota and Iowa as Agricultural Disaster Areas due to the combined effects of severe freezing and excessive snow followed by excessive rainfall and flooding that occurred January 1 – August 2, 2013.

• Minnesota (18 Counties): Dodge, Koochiching, Mower, Steele, Freeborn, Lake of the Woods, Olmsted, Beltrami, Goodhue, Roseau, Waseca, Faribault, Itasca, St. Louis, Winona, Fillmore, Rice and Wabasha counties.
  

• Iowa (4 Counties): Howard, Mitchell, Winnebago and Worth.

Hail Disaster on August 6, 2013

USDA has designated 8 counties in Minnesota and Wisconsin as Agricultural Disaster Areas due to damages and losses caused by hail that occurred August 6, 2013.

• Minnesota: Dakota, Goodhue, Ramsey, Scott, Hennepi, Rice and Washington counties.
  

• Wisconsin: Pierce County.

Related Links

• Agricultural Disaster Declared for 138 counties in 14 States
• Drought 2013
• Agricultural Disasters Index

Deadly epidemic kills 109 in Brazil

Meningitis epidemic prompts tourists to cancel reservations at Bahia’s Costa do Sauipe resort

At least 109 people, most of whom contracted cerebrospinal meningitis, have died in Brazil’s Bahia state since January, the authorities said.

Disaster Calendar 2011 – December 10

[December 10, 2011]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,558 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

• Bahia, Brazil. At least 109 people, most of whom contracted cerebrospinal meningitis, have died in Brazil’s Bahia state since January, the authorities have said.
• At least 1,670 cases of bacterial meningitis, the most serious form of the disease, have been reported in the state of Bahia so far this year, AFP reported officials as saying.
• Dozens of tourists fearing the epidemic have canceled their reservations at Bahia’s Costa do Sauipe resort.
• Meningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, and is usually caused by caused by infection with microorganisms, especially viruses and  bacteria.
• Meningitis is potentially life-threatening and has a high mortality rate if untreated.
• Typically, Brazil has a bacterial meningitis rate of about 46 per 100,000 annually.
• Bahia is one of Brazil’s 26 states, located in the country’s northeastern Atlantic coast (population: >14million).
• The largest epidemic ever recorded in history plagued the sub-Saharan Africa in 1996–1997, causing over 250,000 cases and claiming 25,000 lives, a mortality rate of 10 percent.

Other Global Disasters

• Alabama, USA. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has declared twenty-six counties in Alabama as agricultural disaster areas due to losses caused by excessive rain, flooding, flash flooding, hail, high winds and tornadoes that occurred April 1-30, 2011.
• Six counties were designated as Primary Disaster areas: Blount, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Monroe and Morgan counties.
• Twenty other counties were also declared disaster areas because they’re contiguous:  Baldwin, Conecuh, Fayette, Lamar, Butler, Cullman, Franklin, Lauderdale, Clarke, Escambia, Jackson, Limestone, Colbert, Etowah, Jefferson, Marshall, St. Clair, Walker, Wilcox and Winston counties.
• The following bordering counties in Mississippi and Tennessee were also declared as  disaster areas because they’re contiguous:
• Mississippi: Itawamba and Monroe counties.
• Tennessee: Franklin and Lincoln counties.

Global Disaster Links

• 2011 Much More Disastrous
• 2010 Disasters [Includes Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters: 2011 SIX TIMES MORE DISASTROUS THAN 2010
• 2011 Disaster Calendar

WARNING: About 20 percent of the world population could perish [randomly] by 2016