Historic levels of drought pose “imminent threat to public health, property and the economy”: Rick Perry
Governor of the State of Texas has renewed an Emergency Disaster Proclamation which he initially issued on July 5, 2011, due to exceptional drought conditions.
“Record high temperatures, preceded by significantly low rainfall, have resulted in declining reservoir and aquifer levels, threatening water supplies and delivery systems in many parts of the state …” and ” prolonged dry conditions continue to increase the threat of wildfire across many portions of the state… these exceptional drought conditions have reached historic levels and continue to pose an imminent threat to public health, property and the economy,” the disaster proclamation said.
The renewed state of disaster includes the counties of Andrews, Aransas, Archer, Armstrong, Atascosa, Austin, Bailey, Bandera, Bastrop, Baylor, Bee, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Borden, Btazona, Brewster, Briscoe, Brooks, Brown, Burnet, Caldwell, Calhoun, Callahan, Cameron, Carson, Castro, Childress, CIay, Cochran, Coke, Coleman, Collingsworth, Colorado, Comal, Concho, Coryell, Cottle, Crane, Crockett, Crosby, Culberson, Dallam, Dawson, Deaf Smith, DeWitt, Dickens, Dimmit, Donley, Duval, Eastland, Ector, Edwards, El Paso, Fayette, Fisher, Floyd, Foard, Fort Bend, Franklin, Frio, Gaines, GaÍza, Gillespie, Glasscock, Goliad, Gonzales, Guy, Gregg, Guadalupe, Hale, Hall, Hansford, Hardeman, Harrison, Hartley, Haskell, Hays, Hemphill, Hidalgo, Hockley, Howard, Hudspeth, Hutchinson, Irion, Jackson, Jeff Davis, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, Jones, Karnes, Kendall, Kenedy, Kent, Kerr, Kimble, Krg, Kinney, Kleberg, Knox, Larnb, Lampasas, La Salle, Lavaca, Lee, Lipscomb, Live Oak, Llano, Loving, Lubbock, Lynn, Marion, Martin, Mason, Matagorda, Maverick, McCulloch, Mclennan, McMullen, Medina, Menard, Midland, Milam, Mills, Mitchell, Moore, Motley, Nolan, Nueces, Ochiltree, Oldham, Panola, Parmer, Pecos, Potter, Presidio, Randall, Reagan, Real, Reeves, Refugio, Roberts, Runnels, Rusk, San Patricio, San Saba, Schleicher, Scurry, Shackelford, Sherman, Starr, Stephens, Sterling, Stonewall, Sutton, Swisher, Taylor, Terrell, Terry, Throckmorton, Tom Green, Travis, Upshur, Upton, Uvalde, Val Verde, Victoria, Ward, Webb, Wharton, Wheeler, Wichita, Wilbarger, Willacy, Williamson,’Wilson, Winkler, Yoakum, Young, Zapata and Zavala.
Global Drought
Other Global Disasters, Significant Events
- Michigan, USA. Frost has wiped out up to 95 percent of grape crops in SW Michigan, prompting a State Senator to introduce a resolution asking the Disaster President declare the region a disaster area.
- California, USA.A deadly bacterial disease called Huanglongbing (“Yellow Dragon Disease”), or citrus greening disease, threatens to destroy California’s citrus industry, according to The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).
- “The disease was detected in an Asian citrus psyllid sample and plant material taken from a lemon/pummelo tree in a residential neighborhood in the Hacienda Heights area of Los Angeles County.”
- “HLB is a bacterial disease that attacks the vascular system of plants. It does not pose a threat to humans or animals. The Asian citrus psyllid can spread the bacteria as the pest feeds on citrus trees and other plants. Once a tree is infected, there is no cure; it typically declines and dies within a few years.”
- California produces about 80 percent of the nation’s fresh citrus fruit, and nearly 90 percent of the lemons.
- “HLB is known to be present in Mexico and in parts of the southern U.S. Florida first detected the pest in 1998 and the disease in 2005, and the two have now been detected in all 30 citrus-producing counties in that state. The University of Florida estimates the disease has tallied more than 6,600 lost jobs, $1.3 billion in lost revenue to growers and $3.6 billion in lost economic activity. The pest and the disease are also present in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina. The states of Arizona, Mississippi and Alabama have detected the pest but not the disease,” said CDFA.
- The Asian citrus psyllid was first detected in California in 2008.
- The deadly bacteria has also devastated crops in Brazil, China and the Philippines.
- Bolivia. Disasters caused by extreme weather events have left more than a quarter million Bolivians homeless since late December 2011, officials said.
- China. Torrential rains have unleashed widespread flooding across south China’s Guangdong province.
- Some 235,100 people in 23 counties have been affected by the storms, and 13,300 people have been relocated, the flood control and drought relief headquarters said.
- The storms have also damaged 23,120 hectares of crops and toppled 379 houses, the report said.
- Mexico. Popocatépetl Volcano Update
The following is the latest image of Popocatépetl’s ongoing eruption released by CENAPRED
Popocatépetl continues to eject ash, steam and volcanic gasses to a height of about 800 m above the summit crater, with lava spewing out of the volcano and pouring down its flanks, CENAPRED said. “There were reports of ash fall in San Pedro Benito Juarez, Santiago Xalitzintla, San Nicolas de los Ranchos, San Pedro and San Mateo Yancuictlalpan Ozolco.”
Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background
Fire Earth 