Nine East Texas Counties in Disaster Declaration

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture designates nine East Texas counties and most of Louisiana as a natural disaster area for crop losses from continuing drought that began March 23. The Texas counties are Cass, Harrison, Jefferson, Marion, Newton, Orange, Panola, Sabine and Shelby.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says drought has severely damaged corn, cotton, rice, soybeans, sweet potatoes, forage and pasture. The department announced Wednesday that 36 north, central and southwest parishes were designated primary disaster areas on Tuesday. Another six parishes, four from Evangeline east to West Feliciana, plus Lafayette and Iberia parishes, are secondary disaster areas because they border the primary area. So are six counties each in Arkansas and Mississippi, plus nine in Texas. Farmers in both primary and contiguous parishes have eight months to apply for low-interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency.