CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Farms in parts of New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine are eligible for low-interest loans to cover losses from flooding, hail and heavy rains, including Tropical Storm, that started on May 1.

The United States Department of Agriculture designated eight counties in New Hampshire, five in Vermont and two in Maine as natural disaster areas on Nov. 9.

The designation means the qualified farmers in those counties are eligible for low emergency loans from United State Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency.

The areas covered are Belknap, Coos, Hillsborough, Strafford, Carroll, Grafton, Rockingham and Sullivan counties in New Hampshire and Caledonia, Essex, Orange, Windham and Windsor counties in Vermont. Qualified farmers in Maine’s Oxford and York counties also are eligible.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.