A Texas lake that turned blood-red this summer may not be a sign of the End Times, but probably is the end of a popular fishing and recreation spot. A drought has left the OC Fisher Reservoir in San Angelo State Park in West Texas almost entirely dry. The water that is left is stagnant, […]
By JASON STRAZIUSO4 August 2011 THREE new Somali regions have been declared famine zones, expanding the area where the highest rates of malnutrition and mortality are taking place, including the refugee camps in the capital, Mogadishu. The UN’s food agency said yesterday famine is likely to spread across all of Somalia’s south in the next […]
By Janet Gregg, Jacksonville Daily Progress 2 August 2011 JACKSONVILLE — The impact of the current drought on the state’s agriculture industry has been devastating already and is likely to worsen if the drought continues through next year as some experts predict. “It does look like the drought of 2011 will be the costliest drought […]
By EVA VERGARA2 August 2011 SANTIAGO, Chile — This has been the wettest winter in decades for Chile’s arid northern desert, where fractions of an inch of rain have done major damage in some areas and set the stage for spectacular floral displays in the weeks to come. July came and went with major storms […]
By Benjamin Wermund; Editing by Karen Brooks and Jerry Norton29 July 2011 MARFA, Texas (Reuters) – A historic Texas drought is driving bears into urban areas searching for food and water, the latest in a series of bizarre wildlife stories to come out of the deadly hot and dry weather across the nation. Authorities have […]
By BETSY BLANEY, Associated Press27 July 2011 Randy McGee spent $28,000 in one month pumping water onto about 500 acres in West Texas before he decided to give up irrigating 75 acres of corn and focus on other crops that stood a better chance in the drought. He thought rain might come and save those […]
By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News28 July 2011 An exceptional wildfire in northern Alaska in 2007 put as much carbon into the air as the entire Arctic tundra absorbs in a year, scientists say. The Anaktuvuk River fire burned across more than 1,000 sq km (400 sq miles), doubling the extent of Alaskan tundra […]
MANDERA/WAJIR, 28 July 2011 (IRIN) – In his village, Kiliwehiri in northeastern Kenya, Abdullah Mohamed is known as “that mentally disturbed man”. “It is difficult to be normal after you have watched your entire life’s savings get wiped out before your eyes,” said Ibrahim Abdi, assistant chief of the village. “We are Somalis, we look […]
By Steve Campbell, sfcampbell@star-telegram.com, 817-390-798124 July 2011 The ferocious Texas drought is clobbering crops, thinning out cattle herds, decimating wildlife, and drying up streams and reservoirs, but it’s also wreaking havoc deep underground, where the state’s aquifers are dropping at a precipitous rate, experts say. The dip in groundwater levels is forcing many rural homeowners […]
WICHITA, July 23 (AP) — The drought that has hit sections of Kansas this year has also affected wildlife that relies on rivers, streams and rain to survive. “It’s too dry for everything from the little things to the big things, which eat the little things,” said Don Distler, a biologist who manages Wichita State University’s […]