BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.–Governor Nikki Haley announced Wednesday that United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack has issued a disaster designation for Berkeley County and numerous other counties in South Carolina that suffered damage and losses due to heavy rains and flooding.
The governor requested the disaster designation in an October 19 letter.
A secretarial disaster designation makes farm operators in primary counties and those counties contiguous to primary counties eligible to be considered for certain assistance from Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met.
This assistance includes FSA emergency loans. Farmers in eligible counties, which include both primary and contiguous counties, have 8 months from the date of a secretarial disaster declaration to apply for emergency loans. FSA considers each emergency loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of production losses on the farm, and the security and repayment ability of the operator.
Local FSA offices, administered by the South Carolina State Executive Director of the Farm Service Agency, can provide affected farmers with further information.
Along with Berkeley County, the following 28 counties were designated as primary natural disaster areas after USDA determined sufficient production losses had occurred:
Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, Chester, Clarendon, Colleton, Darlington, Dillon, Dorchester, Edgefield, Fairfield, Florence, Georgetown, Horry, Kershaw, Lancaster, Laurens, Lee, Lexington, Marion, Newberry, Orangeburg, Richland, Saluda, Sumter and Williamsburg
The following counties have been named as contiguous disaster counties:
Abbeville, Anderson, Beaufort, Charleston, Chesterfield, Greenville, Greenwood, Hampton, McCormick, Marlboro, Spartanburg, Union, York
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