Governor Steve Beshear's Communications Office
Gov. Beshear Announces More Kentucky Counties Designated as Drought Disaster Areas by U.S. Agriculture Secretary

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Governor Steve Beshear today announced more Kentucky counties have been classified as drought disaster areas by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. 

In a letter to the Governor, Sec. Vilsack declared an additional 68 Kentucky counties as primary disaster areas due to losses caused by drought that occurred April 1, 2012 and continuing.  Primary counties included in this disaster designation are as follows:

Also as a result of this designation, 22 contiguous counties are eligible for assistance.  Those counties are as follows:

After a similar declaration last month and earlier this month, Kentucky now has 116* counties as either primary or contiguous disaster areas due to drought.

“We are pleased that Sec. Vilsack has issued this disaster designation for the benefit of additional farm families in Kentucky.  While some areas have seen rain in recent weeks, it did not arrive in time to mitigate agricultural losses in these counties,” said Gov. Beshear. “The widespread impact this drought has had on the Commonwealth can be seen in that 97 percent of the state is covered by a disaster designation. I appreciate Sec. Vilsack’s continued support of our farm families.” 

To date, USDA has designated 1,792 counties as disaster areas—1,670 due to drought.

*Counties not covered by a primary or contiguous disaster designation are Bell, Harlan, Leslie and Perry counties.

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