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 Joe Romm 27 Jul 2011 One way to tell if a nationwide heat wave is truly record-breaking is, well, to look at the total number of records that it breaks. Even better is to compare the high records with the low records, since we have very good historical data and analysis on that — […]
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 […]
NEW YORK, July 22 (Reuters) – Power company Consolidated Edison (ED.N) said its peak electric use hit an all-time high on Friday as a brutal heat wave enveloped New York City. Con Edison said late on Friday that its overall electric use peaked at 13,189 megawatts at 4 p.m. That eclipsed an all-time record of […]
By Julie Ingwersen, with additional reporting by Bob Burgdorfer and Meredith Davis; editing by Jim Marshall21 July 2011 CHICAGO (Reuters) – A historic drought in the southern Plains intensified in the last week and contributed to dry conditions emerging in the heart of the Midwest crop belt, a weekly climatologists’ report said Thursday. The weekly […]
By MICHAEL MCNUTT, CAPITOL BUREAU15 July 2011 With no forecast of rain in sight, Gov. Mary Fallin suggests Oklahomans seek help from a higher power. The governor on Thursday asked Oklahomans to set aside time Sunday to pray for rain. Dry conditions have contributed to more than 140 wildfires this year, resulting in the loss of […]
By BETSY BLANEY, Associated Press14 July 2011 LUBBOCK, Texas – The unrelenting Texas drought has produced a cruelly ironic twist: cattle dying from too much water. Agriculture officials in parched Texas said Wednesday there are no hard numbers on how many head of cattle have died but reports of deaths from too much water or […]
BISLE (SOMALI REGION), 12 July 2011 (IRIN) – Every day, 500g of boiled wheat is divided up between two adults, four children, a calf, a goat and a donkey in the Farah household. It is the only food they have had after rains failed for the past two seasons. The 15kg sack of wheat is […]
By KIM SEVERSON and KIRK JOHNSON 11 July 2011 COLQUITT, Ga. — The heat and the drought are so bad in this southwest corner of Georgia that hogs can barely eat. Corn, a lucrative crop with a notorious thirst, is burning up in fields. Cotton plants are too weak to punch through soil so dry […]
