Disaster Area in Counties Hit by Freeze Declared

President Bush declared a natural disaster in 31 freeze-ravaged California counties on Monday, opening up disaster unemployment insurance to an estimated 13,000 farm workers and tax relief to growers who suffered crop losses and tree damage.

But there was confusion Monday about whether the declaration cleared the way for the state’s growers to apply for low-interest federal loans to recoup losses to private property. Farmers are facing an estimated $850 million in damage from the Christmas freeze. At least one farmers’ organization called the declaration “very disappointing.”

The White House said the declaration will make disaster unemployment aid available to individuals who are unemployed as a direct result of the freeze.

“The president did approve federal disaster aid,” said Carl Suchocki, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington, which coordinates federal disaster assistance. “It is made available for disaster unemployment assistance in the 31 counties. . . . It was very specific.”

Increased unemployment assistance to pickers and packers thrown out of work by the record-breaking cold is made available through FEMA, which also will allow growers to apply for tax relief through the Internal Revenue Service, Suchocki said.

But disaster loans from the Small Business Administration and the Farmer’s Home Administration were not covered in the declaration. Those agencies must decide on their own if the freeze caused enough damage to warrant such loans, Suchocki said. That has not been done yet.

U.S. Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.) said in a written statment, however, that the President’s grant of disaster-area status to the 31 California counties automatically allows “individual farmers to apply for low-interest federal loans to recoup losses to private property.”

“I am pleased the President responded so expeditiously to the request that I and Gov. (Pete) Wilson made to seek a disaster declaration for these counties,” Seymour said. “They have been hit very, very hard by this freeze, and the President’s action opens the door for a number of federal assistance programs.”

Reaction from California’s agricultural areas was mixed. While Seymour, Wilson and the California Farm Bureau Federation applauded the declaration, other organizations said they had hoped for more relief from the two-week freeze that destroyed the citrus harvest, idled up to 15,000 workers and caused up to $1 billion in direct and indirect damage.

“We expected this declaration to happen,” said Clark Biggs, spokesman for the California Farm Bureau Federation. “It’s really necessary. The situation in Tulare County in particular has been very desperate. There’s a great deal of people thrown out of work by the freeze. While the community has been working very hard to fill that gap, it’s beyond their resources.”

But Joel Nelsen, president of the trade group California Citrus Mutual, said that if the declaration did not automatically open up federal loan programs, it is “extremely disappointing.”

“The growers lost 75% of their crop,” Nelsen said. “In some cases the Valencia (orange) producers lost 100% of their crop. That means they will be going 16 months without revenues, assuming next year’s crop comes off as near normal.”

Carolyn Rose, president of a Tulare County community assistance group, said her area will need about $4.3 million each month to give people housing and food assistance--and the declaration does not provide that.

“It’s promising, but we have to see how much FEMA funds will be made available,” said Rose, president of Community Service, Education and Training Inc.

Times staff writer James Gerstenzang in Washington contributed to this report.