Drought Makes Half of All U.S. Counties Disaster Areas

More than half of the counties in the United States have been designated as disaster areas mainly because of the ongoing drought that has been ravaging the nation, officials announced Wednesday as disaster designations were signed for 218 more counties in 12 states. That brings this year's total to 1,584 counties in 32 states with more than 90% of those designations being due to drought conditions.