WASHINGTON — Senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin have announced 25 counties in Iowa have received a disaster designation from Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack due to the severe storms, hail, and flooding that occurred between Aug. 1 and Aug. 9. Tama County is among 25 contigous counties named.

Grassley previously urged Secretary Vilsack to honor Governor Chet Culver’s August 20th request to declare a Secretarial Disaster Designation for eight Iowa counties. The Secretary previously declared 57 Iowa counties disaster areas following August 11 letters from Grassley and Culver.

This designation makes farmers eligible to be considered for low-interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency and the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE). The Farm Service Agency will consider each application on its own merit by taking into account the extent of losses, security available, and repayment ability. Local Farm Service Agency offices can provide affected farmers with further information.

The following counties were declared primary natural disaster areas: Calhoun, Grundy, Hamilton, Hardin, Ida, Sac, Webster and Woodbury. These counties were declared contiguous disaster counties: Black Hawk, Boone, Buena Vista, Butler, Carroll, Cherokee, Crawford, Franklin, Greene, Humboldt, Marshall, Monona, Plymouth, Pocahontas, Story, Tama and Wright.