WASHINGTON-With extreme rainfall and flooding damaging Clay County farms in July, Congressman Bart Gordon announced that the U.S. Agriculture Department declared Clay County a federal agriculture disaster area.

“The storms destroyed crop yields across Clay, significantly affecting the livelihood of farmers and their families in the County and surrounding communities,” Congressman Gordon said. “With this declaration, the many affected farmers can begin to rebuild and prepare for the start of the next farming season.”

The U.S. Agriculture Department’s disaster declaration enables qualifying farmers to apply for federal farm disaster assistance programs, including supplemental farm revenue payments and low-interest emergency loans.

Overton County received the primary natural disaster declaration. Clay, Fentress, Jackson, Pickett and Putnam counties received contiguous natural disaster declarations, which makes farmers in these counties eligible for the same federal assistance programs.

The declarations came after Gordon and his Tennessee colleagues requested U.S. Agriculture Secretary, Thomas Vilsack, grant federal disaster assistance to the counties affected by excessive rainfall and extensive flooding that occurred on July 15 and July 16.

Affected farmers in Clay County should contact the Farm Service Agency’s Gainesboro office for more information. The phone number is (931) 268-0201.