USDA announces additional emergency funds for states hit by natural disasters

The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has announced plans to provide an additional funding of $66.8m for states hit by natural disasters.

NRCS will provide the additional funding to its Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) programme to help disaster recovery efforts in 15 US states.

The EWP programme has assisted and supported many communities to recover from natural disasters throughout the country by providing on-site technical and financial assistance.

The funds will help implement all requested recovery projects in declared disaster areas such as debris-clogged stream channels, undermined and unstable stream banks, hazardous water control structures and public infrastructures, and windborne debris removal.

US agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack said: "This funding will help communities implement much needed recovery projects to address watershed damage caused by floods, drought, hurricanes and other natural disasters that occurred in 2012 and 2013."

Of the latest announcement, a major portion of $19m will be allotted to Colorado for recovering from one of the worst fire seasons in the state’s history.

In 2012, more than 200,000 acres burned in the fire, destroying more than 600 homes and other structures.

The rest of the funding will be distributed among Florida, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, New Mexico, and Ohio.

NRCS is also responding to the recent Oklahoma tornados and has provided about $500,000 in emergency funding.

The organisation has allocated $5.6m in recovery to the states that suffered from Hurricane Sandy and will allot up to $165.4m for floodplain easements.

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Image: USDA headquarters in Washington, US. Photo: courtesy of Billy Hathorn.