PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Rhode Island farmers are now eligible for federal disaster assistance following heavy flooding this year.

More than 16 inches of rain fell on Rhode Island between May and June, severely shortening the growing season. Many farmers couldn’t plant because of the rain, and others that did saw their crops wash away.

Officials in Rhode Island and Connecticut earlier said they expected to lose 40 to 70 percent of hay, feed corn, sweet corn, pumpkin and strawberry crops.

Sen. Jack Reed’s office says farmers have eight months to apply to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency for low-interest emergency loans.