Drought

The mayor of Madison and the Board of Aldermen issued a state of emergency for the city in January as the drought and beetles left thousands of dead pine trees across the city. Experts say that the trees will soon fall, creating a safety hazard, so the city needs to remove the trees soon. The cost of removal may be $800 to $1,500 per tree. City officials were hoping for some state and federal assistance to deal with this natural disaster. WLBT 3 (Jackson, Miss.), Feb 16, 2024

Record-setting heat and intense drought devastated the crawfish population on a Sour Lake farm. There were few crawfish to harvest, although they ought to get 200 to 300 sacks daily. Last year those crawfish sold for $4 per pound, whereas this year, they’re selling for $10 per pound. Of the roughly 500,000 acres of crawfish country in Texas and Louisiana, 170,000 acres will not yield any crawfish this year. KHOU 11 (Houston, Texas), Feb 16, 2024

Drought during the 2023 summer stressed Missouri pastures, leaving hay availability and quality varying by geography. While state data indicate that that hay supplies were adequate, producers say otherwise. AgUpdate (Tekamah, Neb.), Feb 15, 2024

The Catawba-Wateree Drought Management Advisory Group determined that the Catawba-Wateree River Basin was no longer under a drought after the wet weather of the past few months. The Stage 1 Drought that began Nov. 1 has ended. Queen City News (Charlotte, N.C.), Feb 16, 2024 The Catawba-Wateree Drought Management Advisory Group announced on Nov. 2 that warm, dry weather has put the Catawba-Wateree River Basin in Stage 1 of the group’s Low Inflow Protocol. Stage 1 is a drought stage that requires the first phase of operational adjustments at Duke Energy’s hydroelectric facilities. Voluntary water conservation was strongly encouraged. Residents using water from a Duke Energy lake for landscape irrigation were asked to limit watering to Tuesdays and Saturdays. During drought conditions, Duke Energy’s hydroelectric plants operate at reduced levels to progressively decrease downstream flows and preserve water storage in the lakes. At Stage 1, Duke Energy increases surveillance of its public boating access areas along the lakes. To ensure the safety of boaters and protect property, some boat ramps will close temporarily due to declining lake levels. McDowellNews (Marion, N.C.), Nov 2, 2023

Cameron County Irrigation District No. 2 may run out of irrigation water by April, which would force the city to push water to utility customers. Mandatory water restrictions take effect, requiring water conservation with the possibility of fines if water use does not fall. Per the second phase of the state’s water conservation plan, residents were banned from watering between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Insufficient irrigation water could cost the Valley $993.2 million, according to a Texas A&M study. Water levels in January were the lowest in history and have dropped to 18.2% of capacity for Falcon Reservoir and 24.8% for Amistad Reservoir. My RGV.com (McAllen, Texas), Feb 15, 2024

Drought and freezing temperatures have delayed the crawfish season in Louisiana and East Texas. The crawfish season usually begins in January and stretches until July, but the January harvest was roughly 10% of usual, according to a crawfish distributor in Austin. The crawfish were also smaller, so they were difficult to eat and less likely to survive the eight-hour trip to Central Texas. The freezing weather in January was also hard on the crawfish as the crustaceans struggled to get enough oxygen in the frozen ponds. With fewer crawfish available, restaurants were charging $16 to $22 per pound just to break even, according to local vendors. A restaurant in Georgetown planned to begin selling mudbugs this year, but was deterred by the high prices. Another restaurant owner began driving to Louisiana to get some crawfish, but found that half of them were dead by the time he returned with them. Selling crawfish was not profitable yet this year. Community Impact – Austin (Texas), Feb 13, 2024 Farmers and restaurateurs were in a supply crisis as crawfish season began after a summer of drought and intense heat in Louisiana. Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency due to the heat. In October, there was not enough freshwater to flood the fields, which encourages crawfish to emerge from their burrows and repopulate. The January freeze also hurt the crustaceans. Altogether, the loss to Louisiana’s $230 million crawfish industry was an estimated 60%. A crawfish distributor in Crowley, Louisiana who sells to H-E-B has normally bought from 100,000 to 150,000 pounds of mudbugs in the first week of February, but this year, he only bought 6,000 pounds, which is not enough for the grocery chain, so he sold to restaurants. At two farms in Acadia and Allen parishes in early February, just ten pounds of crawfish were harvested, in comparison to the normal of nearly 400 pounds. The marine extension agent for LSU AgCenter thought that 75% to 90% of Louisiana’s farm-raised crawfish could be lost this year due to extreme weather. In Texas, crawfish farmers were faring slightly better for a number of possible reasons, according to an aquaculture extension specialist and marine extension agent of Texas A&M. Texas producers typically begin to harvest in late February, so it was not yet clear how Texas crawfish were affected by the drought and heat of the summer. Producers in the Hamshire and Sour Lake area of Harris County in Southeast Texas were not too worried about the crawfish. A crawfish restaurant in Crosby, about 25 miles east of Houston, opened on January 31 and sold them for $13 per pound. The owner has since closed to wait for prices to fall a bit because he felt badly charging so much for crawfish. A Beaumont restaurant usually sees sales jump 15% to 20% during crawfish season. This year, crawdads will not be sold until the wholesale price came down to $5 per pound. One of the co-owners has seen competitors selling them for $12 to $17 per pound, buy did not feel that his customers would tolerate that. An Austin seafood market received up to 40 calls per day from people seeking crawfish for the Super Bowl. The owner is not sure whether she will carry crawfish at all this year. A Houston restaurant owner initially sold mudbugs for $16 per pound in early January, which led to accusations of price gouging. On January 20, the price was lowered to $12.99 per pound. As of mid-February, the cost is $11.99. This year, total sales in January amounted to $2,900. Last January, sales were between $100,000 and $120,000. Texas Monthly (Austin), Feb 13, 2024 A San Antonio restaurant has gotten some field run crawfish in, which is a mix of sizes rather than all larger crawfish. They were selling for $13.99 per pound, although the price would usually be $7.99 per pound or sometimes maybe $6.99. KENS5 (San Antonio, Texas), Feb 13, 2024 A restaurant that sells crawfish in Bryan was having trouble getting the mudbugs. Sales of the crustaceans was down 5,500 pounds this year compared to 2023. The week of the Super Bowl this year, they sold about 600 pounds, in comparison with about 6,000 pounds last year. The effect of the reduction to the crawfish population was being felt industrywide, from the fishermen to the suppliers to the restaurants. KBTX (Bryan, Texas), Feb 13, 2024

A restaurant in Richardson finally got some crawfish in time for their Fat Tuesday celebration and was charging $17.95 per pound for fresh crawfish from Louisiana. In 2023, a Lewisville restaurant sold 209,000 pounds of mudbugs, the restaurant’s best year ever, but has not sold one pound of them yet in 2024. “A few weeks ago they literally put out 250 traps and they caught 14 crawfish. I’m not saying 14 pounds, 14 crawfish,” according to the Lewisville restaurant owner. KXAS-TV NBC 5 Dallas - Fort Worth (Texas), Feb 13, 2024

Dry soils were challenging for a Wilton farmer in 2023, and drought remained the farmer’s biggest concern ahead of the 2024 growing season. The tile lines that were running were below normal. Brownfield Ag News (Jefferson City, Mo.), Feb 9, 2024

From Aug. 1 through Jan. 10, the city of Beaumont spent $353,000 on in-house labor to repair leaks and conduct other drought-related activities, according to the city. The city spent more than twice that figure on contractors, spending just over $407,000. Beaumont also spent just over $260,000 on drought-related materials over the same time period, bringing the total public dollars spent on drought-related issues to just over $1 million. Beaumont Enterprise (Texas), Feb 11, 2024

Central Texans were turning to their faith and prayer for rain as aquifers were extremely low and rivers were running dry. KXAN (Austin, Texas), Aug 23, 2023

The aging infrastructure in Odessa and Midland was breaking and spilling water due to the ground shifting or the high water demand and changes in pressure. KWES-TV NewsWest 9 (Odessa, Texas), Aug 24, 2023

Lafayette Parish Waterworks District North and Lafayette Utilities System urged residents to conserve water due to the extreme drought. The daily water demand has been 25% to 35% over normal summer use. Water pressure has been affected, causing disruptions to all Lafayette Parish residents served by LUS and LPWDN. KATC (Lafayette, La.), Aug 25, 2023

The Turkey Creek Water System and 5th Ward Fire Protection District ask that residents conserve water due to drought conditions. KATC (Lafayette, La.), Aug 25, 2023

Wells are going dry in the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District as heat and drought persist. One woman was unable to find a water hauling service to bring water to her home cistern. The state’s largest springs, which come from the Edwards Aquifer, are nearing their lowest flow levels on record. San Marcos Springs, the second largest in Texas, is flowing at just 50% of its historical average for mid-August. The largest spring complex in Texas, Comal Springs in New Braunfels, is flowing at 30% of the historical average for August. Its primary spring has gone completely dry. Las Moras Springs in Brackettville, west of San Antonio, has stopped flowing. Barton Springs in Austin is flowing at about 14 cubic feet per second, in comparison with its average flow over the last 45 years of 67 cubic feet per second. The Texas Tribune (Austin), Aug 16, 2023

Austin and Travis County both issued a disaster declaration on Tuesday, Aug. 15. The declaration, coming on the heels of Gov. Greg Abbott's statewide disaster declaration Monday, unlocked further resources and staffing, allowed the mayor and county judge to take quicker actions, and set up evacuation protocols. The Austin Chronicle (Texas), Aug 18, 2024

A number of grass fires broke out across Iowa on Feb. 8, due to high winds, dry conditions and ongoing drought. Various rural areas dealt with larger fires in Corydon, Indianola and New Virginia. KCCI TV 8 (Des Moines, Iowa), Feb 9, 2024

Water levels continued to drop in several Central Texas lakes. Compared to normal lake levels at this time of year, Lake Whitney was down 7.1 feet, Lake Waco was 9.7 feet lower, Lake Belton was down 16.3 feet and Stillhouse Hollow was down 16.9 feet. Many boat ramps were completely out of the water, and swimming areas were also low. The public was advised to be cautious in shallow waters. KWKT FOX 44 News (Waco, Texas), Aug 17, 2023

Residents of Crystal were urged to use water wisely as the Mississippi Headwaters Watershed was in a drought phase. KSTP-TV ABC 5 Minneapolis/St. Paul (Minn.), Aug 11, 2023

The high cost of hay and other items connected with showing livestock has made it difficult for FFA and 4-H students to raise an animal to show. The price of a bale of hay might range from $125 to $150. Consequently, fewer students were showing animals this year. KETK (Tyler, Texas), Feb 9, 2024

A dairy farmer in Genesee County left the cattle business because the cost of hauling water made milk production unprofitable. The farmer planned to continue growing crops. There was concern for other dairy farmers as wells have not recovered despite 14 inches of snow. No rain has fallen. More precipitation was desperately needed so there is moisture for the upcoming growing season. The Batavian (N.Y.), Feb 8, 2024