Federal Emergency Management Agency Designates 16 South Dakota Counties as Primary Natural Disaster Areas

This Presidential disaster declaration allows the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) to extend much-needed emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters through emergency loans. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation, or to refinance certain debts. FSA will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available, and repayment ability.

Impacted Area: South Dakota

Triggering Disaster: Severe Winter Storm and Snowstorms that occurred from Dec. 12 to Dec. 25, 2022

Application Deadline: Oct. 27, 2023

Primary Counties Eligible:  Bennett, Brookings, Clark, Day, Deuel, Hamlin, Jackson, Jones, Kingsbury, Mellette, Oglala Lakota, Potter, Roberts, Stanley, Todd, and Tripp

Contiguous Counties Also Eligible:

South Dakota: Beadle, Brown, Codington, Custer, Dewey, Edmunds, Fall River, Faulk, Grant, Gregory, Haakon, Hughes, Hyde, Lake, Lyman, Marshall, Miner, Moody, Pennington, Sanborn, Spink, Sully, Walworth, and Ziebach 

Minnesota: Big Stone, Lac Qui Parle, Lincoln, Pipestone, Traverse, and Yellow Medicine

Nebraska:  Cherry, Dawes, Keya Paha, and Sheridan

North Dakota:  Richland and Sargent

More Resources

On farmers.gov, the Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster Assistance-at-a-Glance fact sheet, and Loan Assistance Tool can help you determine program or loan options. To file a Notice of Loss or to ask questions about available programs, contact your local  USDA Service Center.

FEMA offers different assistance programs for individual citizens, public groups including government agencies and private nonprofit organizations.  To find the FEMA help you need following a disaster event, visit fema.gov/assistance.

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