Area counties qualify for natural disaster aid

10/13/2010
BLADE STAFF

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has declared 41 Ohio counties to be primary natural disaster areas, and another 38 counties to be contiguous natural disaster areas this year because of poor weather, allowing farmers and others to qualify for relief.

All of the counties in northwest Ohio qualified for the designation, which allows those affected by the weather to apply for low-interest, long-term loans in order to speed economic recovery. The loan applications are available through the Web site disasterloan.sba.gov.