U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is expected to announce that 33 states and Puerto Rico will receive a share of more than $300 million in emergency funds to help them recover from an unusually intense year of natural disasters.

Missouri and Utah will receive more than one-third of that total
after record flooding in both states. Missouri suffered through
months of flooding after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released
unprecedented amounts of water from northern Missouri River basin
reservoirs, while Utah saw record snow melt that caused heavy
flooding.

Of the $308 million in aid to be announced Wednesday, roughly
$109 million goes to the two states.

Vilsack noted that 2011 was unusual because almost every part of
the country was hit by some type of disaster.