Florida, nearby states face severe drought
Date: 19-Jun-00
Country: USA
Author: Brad Liston
The state estimates that Florida's farmers and ranchers have racked up about $200
million in losses so far. Gov. Jeb Bush has asked the federal government to
declare Florida a disaster area.
The drought stretches back to the summer of 1998, and places such as state
capital Tallahassee have experienced some 20 inches (50 cm) less rainfall so far
this year than in a normal year, said Douglas Lecomte, a senior meteorologist
with the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Centre.
The Florida Department of Agriculture says crops such as cotton, soybeans, corn,
watermelons, hay and some vegetables have suffered across 90 percent of Florida's
counties.
Normally, citrus growers have to irrigate only in the hottest and driest months,
but January, February and March were so unseasonably hot and dry this year that
growers had to spend this year's profit to make sure their trees survived until
next year.
In Osceola County, south of Orlando, one cattle rancher was investigated for
animal abuse because his 600 head of cattle appeared emaciated. The grass they
normally ate had withered away and the rancher had gone broke buying them feed.
The state stepped in to help with $7,000.
Along the Wekiva River that runs through central Florida, the state planted 9,000
magnolia, maple and Cyprus trees as part of a wetlands restoration programme.
Nearly all have died in the dry heat.
Bill Ramsey, who grows blueberries in north central Florida, said he fears he
could lose most or all of his crop.
"I can't do it all with irrigation," he said. And where he does irrigate, wild
animals tear up the moist earth looking for worms that are harder to find in
nearby forests.
SINKHOLES A THREAT TO HOMES
Sinkholes, often caused when the underground water table drops too low to support
the limestone bedrock above it, have started to swallow cars, hiking trails, even
an entire lake - as well as eating into the property values of anyone living near
a new one.
When a sinkhole ate the Ruess family's home earlier this month, a Seminole County
Sheriff's deputy had to cross a 20-foot (6-metre) hole where the living room
floor had once been to retrieve some family photos from a bookshelf.
"It's not like a disaster, it's like a horror movie," said Aileen Ruess.
In Daytona Beach, where two years ago wildfires spawned by the drought forced
much of the city to evacuate, the wild grasses and palmetto bushes that fuelled
the fires have grown back and once again are like kindling.
"If the humidity stays low, things could get pretty extreme," said Volusia County
Fire Chief Jim Tauber.
"There's no strong evidence one way or the other" that Florida will see normal
rainfall this summer, said Gary Woodall, a forecaster for the National Weather
Service.
Wildfires have been rampant and people tune in anxiously to weather reports to
check whether there is a nearby threat from a blaze.
Floridians appear to have stopped casually tossing lit cigarettes from car
windows, with police cracking down on the practice in an attempt to prevent the
ignition of new fires.
DROUGHT EXTENDS BEYOND FLORIDA
The drought has not been confined to Florida.
Georgia plans next week to impose a ban on outdoor watering from 4 p.m. to 10
p.m. in 144 counties in a bid to minimise the effects of a three-year drought.
Authorities already have imposed similar restrictions in 15 counties in the
Atlanta area. The restrictions are the first of their kind in the state, where
streams have run dry and water levels in rivers are at record lows.
"Many local governments are having difficulty providing water during the early
morning hours since water use is very intensive at that time," the Georgia
Environmental Protection Division said.
It said it expected to expand water restrictions if the weather did not improve
and did not rule out a total ban on residential outdoor watering.
In Alabama, state officials were c
