• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- Gov. Dennis Daugaard is asking the Small Business Administration to provide disaster assistance to help South Dakotans recover from June storm damages caused by flooding and tornadoes.
• The request came after the Federal Emergency Management Agency rejected the state's request for individual assistance programs for damage to homes and businesses.
• The SBA assistance could provide low-interest loans to help owners of homes and businesses recover from the storm damage.
• The state is asking that Jerauld and Lincoln counties be designated primary disaster counties. The SBA program also provides assistance to counties contiguous, which would include Buffalo, Hand, Beadle, Sanborn, Aurora, Brule, Minnehaha, Turner, Clay and Union counties.
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Dakota, agriculture officials said, though farmers in the eastern part of the state could suffer some losses after heavy rains flooded portions of many fields.
• Gregg Ulrickson, owner of Crop Insurance Specialists in Canton, said several soybean farmers have told him parts of their fields were flooded after last month's rains.
• "If the beans were small and they got covered up for a couple of days, they're pretty much cooked," Ulrickson said.
• Corn plants that were a little taller had a chance of peeking out over the water level to escape with just a little bit of yellowing.
• "They got a chance to survive," Ulrickson said.
• More than 8 inches of rain fell on parts of Lincoln County on June 16. Canton, where about 1,100 homes were flooded, received a record of nearly 20 inches of rain in June. Damage to roads and bridges topped $2 million, county officials estimate, but a crop damage estimate was not available.

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