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Ohio drought leads to disaster declaration by the USDA

The USDA FSA has declared a federal emergency in several Ohio counties due to extreme drought conditions.

Fayette county farmer Eric Tipton says conditions continue to worsen.

“I don’t think we’re as bad off precipitation wise, but we surely could use a drink,” he says.
 
Ohio’s state climatologist Aaron Wilson says he’s never seen it this severe.

“It’s the most D3 or extreme drought category that we’ve seen on the US drought Monitor since 2007 and it surpassed 2007 with about tweleve and a half percent of the state covered by the extreme drought category,” he says.

The USDA says counties that qualify for federal aide have had eight or more consecutive weeks of little to no precipitation.

For more information contact your local FSA office. 

The counties affected include:
Athens, Belmont, Fairfield, Fayette, Gallia, Guernsey, Harrison, Highland, Hocking, Jackso, , Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Pickaway, Pike, Ross, Vinton, and Washington.

Neighboring counties eligible include:
Adams, Brown, Carroll, Champaign, Clark, Clinton, Columbiana, Coshocton, Franklin, Greene, Lawrence, Licking, Meigs, Scioto, Tuscarawas, and Union.