LITTLE ROCK (KFSM) — Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday (Sept. 22) asking that 12 counties be declared as disaster areas, including Carroll and Madison Counties, after recent flooding caused severe agricultural damage throughout the region.
Northwest Arkansas saw between 8-12 inches of rain in a four-week period this summer, which took an extreme toll on many crops, the letter states. The crops were in or near the harvest stage when the floods came, which caused heavy damage or destroyed the output completely.
The University of Arkansas reported that the estimated damage of the floods will be between $45-50 million.
According to Hutchinson’s letter, agriculture is the primary industry for many of these counties, as well as the top industry for Arkansas as a whole. Therefore, the farmers in these areas will need assistance after such a financial loss.
The following counties were declared disasters in terms of crop loss:
- Carroll
- Clay
- Craighead
- Independence
- Jackson
- Lawrence
- Lincoln
- Madison
- Prairie
- Randolph
- White
- Woodruff