How much is crop and livestock damaged caused by drought wilts in Texas?
JULY 28, 2009 Texas Scorched by Worst Drought in 50 Years Crop and Livestock Losses Reach $3.6 Billion, and Tourism Industry Takes a Hit; Meteorologists Predict Relief in the Fall By TOM BENNING A combination of record-high heat and record-low rainfall has pushed south and central Texas into the region’s deepest drought in a half century, with $3.6 billion of crop and livestock losses piling up during the past nine months. The heat wave has drastically reduced reservoirs and forced about 230 public water systems to declare mandatory water restrictions. Lower levels in lakes and rivers have been a blow to tourism, too, making summer boating, swimming and fishing activities impossible in some places. Nearly 80 of Texas’ 254 counties are in “extreme” or “exceptional” drought, the worst possible levels on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s index. Though other states are experiencing drought, no counties in the continental U.S. outside Texas currently register worse than “severe.” In late
