Image by Flickr user kevindooleyImage by 20080916farmwater.jpg Farms love that water.

Note: Updates at the bottom.

44 of the state's 46 counties have been declared disaster areas after the drought and farmers are now eligible for low-interest loans to help keep them going. The other two counties, Beaufort and Charleston, are labeled as contiguous disaster areas and they can still get some aid from the Farm Service Agency.

Head over to The Post and Courier for the story.

The state drought committee meets today to re-evaluate the status of area droughts, based off recent storm rainfall I'll speculate the statuses in the Lowcountry and Midlands will improve some, while the Upstate will improve little. We'll keep you posted.

Update 3:31 p.m.: The drought status has been updated with, yep, generally better conditions on the coast and still bad in the Upstate. Here's the map.