Disaster area in 70 Ohio counties

WASHINGTON – The USDA designated Arizona, 70 counties in Ohio and one Virginia county as primary agricultural disaster areas.

Seventy counties in Ohio are designated as a disaster area due to losses caused by excessive rain, flooding, hail, high winds and tornadoes that started May 1, and are continuing.

b> Ohio counties.< These counties are:

Adams, Allen, Ashland, Ashtabula,, Athens, Auglaize, Brown, Butler, Carroll, Clark, Clermont, Clinton Columbiana, Coshocton, Crawford, Cuyahoga, Darke, Delaware, Erie, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Gallia,

Geauga, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Highland, Hocking, Holmes, Huron, Jackson, Knox, Lake, Lawrence, Licking, Logan, Lorain, Mahoning, Marion, Medina, Meigs, Mercer, Miami, Montgomery, Morgan, Morrow,

Muskingum, Paulding, Perry, Pickaway, Pike, Portage, Preble, Putnam, Richland, Ross, Sandusky, Scioto, Shelby, Summit, Trumbull, Tuscarawas, Union, Van Wert, Vinton, Warren, Washington and Wyandot.

Also eligible for the same disaster in Ohio are the contiguous counties of: Champaign, Defiance, Guernsey, Harrison, Henry, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Noble, Ottawa, Seneca, Stark, Wayne and Wood.

Aug. 29 decision. All of these counties were designated Aug. 29, making all qualified farm operators eligible for low-interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency, provided eligibility requirements are met.

All 15 counties in Arizona are designated as a primary disaster area due to damages and losses caused by drought that began Jan. 1, 2003.

Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for the loans to help cover part of their actual losses.

FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.

Other programs, too. FSA has a variety of programs available, in addition to the emergency loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity.

Interested farmers may contact their local FSA Service Centers for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs.