Bay Area lawmakers push feds for disaster recovery package for California farmers
Federal lawmakers representing four California districts with pristine farmland penned a letter to colleagues this week urging passage of a bipartisan disaster recovery package for farmers and ranchers devastated by heavy winter storms earlier this winter. The letter requests aid for areas impacted during a storm window ranging from Dec. 27 of last year to Jan 16. According to a release from [Rep. Jimmy] Panetta’s office, California was hit with nine atmospheric river storms during that period, dumping roughly 32 trillion gallons of water on the state and causing more than $500 million in estimated damages to agricultural operations in the lawmaker’s regions.