The U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared a drought disaster across all 10 New Hampshire counties.
It comes as the drought worsens again in the Southeastern area of the state, surrounding Strafford County.
The USDA declaration spans almost all of New England. It’ll make emergency funding available to farmers who lost crops such as hay due to the drought.
More than 900 counties nationwide are now in some form of drought disaster.
About 30% of New Hampshire is now in a severe or extreme drought, up from about 23% in the past few weeks. The rest of the state is in moderate drought. The conditions began in May and could stretch into next year.
More than 400,000 New Hampshire residents on public water systems are still under some form of water user restrictions. The majority of those restrictions are mandatory.
Private well users are also urged to conserve water through the winter. The state is offering bottled water and financial aid to low-income well users who have run out of drinking water.
Are you having problems with water or crops due to the drought? Send us an email with your story. To learn more about the drought's connections to climate change, check out our reporting project By Degrees.
