Posted on 06/30/2011 5:55:17 AM PDT by blam
The Entire State Of Texas Has been Declared A Natural Disaster
Robert Johnson
Jun. 30, 2011, 7:15 AM
More than 200 Texan counties have been designated drought disasters by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and all remaining counties now qualify for federal aid.
KCBD in Lubbock reports that 213 counties have lost at least 30 percent of their pasture or crops to wildfires and drought.
The natural disaster designation allows farmers and ranchers to qualify for low-rate emergency loans.
South Plains farmer Scott Harmon told KCBD, "This is a disaster. This is a train wreck. We've never seen anything like this before. People are scared, they don't know what to do and what's going to happen to them next."
Harmon's family have been farming their small piece of Texas since the 1920's.
Texas Agricultural Commissioner Todd Staples told 103.5 things are bad and they will probably get worse:
“We are currently ranked as the third-worst drought on record in Texas. But each passing day moves us closer to the number one year. It is a true calamity. The impact is heartbreaking,” says Staples. “We’ve had over two million acres of dry land cotton being declared 100% abandoned. We have livestock producers that are liquidating their herds, something they’ve spent their entire lifetime building up. It’s just a dreadful set of circumstances.”
Agricultural losses may exceed the 2006 record of $4.1 billion. More than 70 percent of the state is in a full blown drought and three million acres have been burned by wildfires.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
We're in a drought here in Mobile (The Rainest City In The US) too.
Pretty drun dry here...
We really need a Tropical storm to camp out for a while... a slow steady rain... not a hard one
Maybe its Obama’s rain machine... He has it fixed to try and break Texas but he ain’t gonna do it.
I live a little north of lubbock ...not a drop or drizzle since october-ish .....never seen anything like it ...
How sad for the farmers and their families. And another result will be continued rising costs of food and clothing because of this.
Yes, the 2.5” or more of rain we had a week ago is already gone. The 100+ temps have taken a toll on the pastures and trees are dying. My garden is at a standstill as far as production is concerned, but I try to keep the plants alive hoping for rain and cooler temps later. The lake is not as low as it was a few years ago, but we need a lot rain.
That’s a shame. Here in the Northeast, our weather has been particularly cool and rainy for most of the spring. Would love to have that weather hang out in Texas for a while and we’ll take a few weeks of summer heat up here.
It’s bad that’s for sure. But...the rains will come, they always do. Eventually.
No fireworks this Independence Day. Too dangerous. Within the city limits, $2000 fine for possession or discharge.
This drought reminds me of that book, “The Time It Never Rained”.
I started to read “The Time It Never Rained” but I couldn’t do it. It was depressing. We are dry land farmers in Texas.
I started to read “The Time It Never Rained” but I couldn’t do it. It was depressing. We are dry land farmers in Texas.
Could some of the wild fires be an act of violence by Mexican nationals?
As if anyone needed to tell us this news.
You sound like you’re in Central Texas. (My neighborhood)
My daughter’s fiance’s family is starting to sell off their herd at rock-bottom prices. It’s so sad.
I just had a fight with my son over this just last night.
Our land is horribly dry right now. I don’t even smoke outside. I just tossed the paper I was saving to burn because I don’t dare risk it - even in a barrel or a pit. Tomorrow we’re going to mow our ‘lawn’ down as tight as possible to the ground to provide less fuel around the house.
No. No fireworks this year!
Yes, we live about 35 miles NW of Austin in the hill country. I hope we can make some BBQ without getting in trouble this weekend.
Kempner! ;-)
I’m a wimp with the heat. With hubby deployed, we don’t be BBQing this year. The kids will probably go to post if they do something there while I hide out in the A/C.
I don’t know if I buy into the “just about worst ever” mentality.
Have seen worse in my lifetime and I ain’t that d*mn old!
Never did see a dry summer in Mobile, seemed like it rained every day!
See your Freepmail in a few.
There were more than 150 reports of record hot maximum temperatures in Texas, over 20 in Oklahoma, and 15 in Arkansas this week, with the hottest reports including 118 degrees F in Paducah, Texas (June 27), 116 in Castolon, Texas (June 21), and 115 in Castolon and Penwell, Texas (June 26). According to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, operator of the state's major power grid, electricity demand peaked at 62,752 megawatts on the 27th, a record for June. Several wildfires continued to flame across west Texas into Oklahoma. Through June 27, Del Rio had the driest October to June in the 1906-2011 record, San Antonio had the second driest October-June in a period of record beginning in 1871, and Austin Mabry was third driest for October-June in records going back to 1856. D4 expanded along the Rio Grande River around Laredo and Del Rio to reflect the record to near-record dryness. June 26 U.S.D.A. reports listed 90 percent or more of the topsoil short or very short of moisture in Texas and Oklahoma. For Texas, 80 percent or more of the pasture and rangeland was rated in poor or very poor condition, and half or more of the winter wheat, corn, soybeans, cotton, peanuts, and oat crops were rated poor or very poor.
Hot and dry conditions prevailed north of Texas. D0 expanded across eastern Oklahoma and most of Arkansas, with spillage into southern Missouri and parts of southern Kansas and northeast Texas. May was extremely wet in Arkansas and Missouri, but the last 4 weeks have seen little rain. The recent dryness, coupled with hot temperatures and increased evaporation, dried out the topsoil and shrank stream levels, resulting in the D0 expansion. The U.S.D.A. topsoil moisture statistic for Arkansas jumped from 60 percent last week to 77 percent short-very short this week. In Oklahoma, the statistic jumped from 80 percent last week to 90 percent this week. The U.S.D.A. statistics for percent of pasture and rangeland in poor or very poor condition jumped about 10 percent compared to last week for these states, with 52 percent poor to very poor in Oklahoma and 26 percent in Arkansas. A fifth of the sorghum and two-thirds of the cotton crop were rated poor to very poor in Oklahoma, while in Arkansas a fifth of the soybeans and a fourth of the corn crop were rated poor to very poor. D1 and D2 also expanded in Oklahoma and adjacent parts of Kansas.
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