Steve Quayle News Alerts

August 6, 2002
By Brian Connor, CBN News Reporter

Experts say the current drought is even worse than the '88-89 dry spell, and that spells trouble for more than just America's farmers.

CBN.com – GRAFTON, Nebraska — Drought is a natural disaster with expensive and far-reaching implications. America's last big drought from 1988 to ‘89 cost the U.S. more than $40 billion. That is about $7 billion more than 1992's Hurricane Andrew, one of the most destructive storms in history.

Experts say the current drought is even worse than the '88-89 dry spell, and that spells trouble for more than just America's farmers.

As the U.S. gets drier and drier, "extreme" or "exceptional" drought is choking the West, Great Plains and Southeast. Things are getting so bad, the current dry spell is drawing comparisons to the infamous "Dust Bowl" of the 1930's.

Back then, a lack of rain and snow combined with poor farming techniques caused a catastrophic impact on a five-state region in the Midwest. Billowing clouds of dust darkened skies. In some places, the dust drifted like snow, covering almost everything in sight.

But according to some people who lived through it, we are still a long way from another Dust Bowl. Farmer Harold Untersheer told CBN News, "No. No comparison, really. I don't think. Do you?" Another farmer agreed, "There ain't no comparison. They got everything now."

Jacob Schaldecker said, "We got irrigation systems. You know, that might take care of a little bit of it." A fourth farmer, Tony Lanetti, said, "This is no comparison to what it was because there was no irrigation then at all."

In 1934, the worst of the Dust Bowl years, extreme drought stretched over 65 to 75 percent of the country. Today, more than 40 percent of the country is suffering. And surprisingly, not many people seem to be paying attention.

Mark Svoboda, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center, said, "Typically, it's not as glamorous as some of the other disasters out there. It's not really a media darling until you have the impacts associated with it, such as the fires in the West. And with flooding, you see houses actually flowing down the flood plain. It's the ‘Rodney Dangerfield’ of natural disasters because it doesn't get a lot of respect."

According to Svoboda, drought is the number-one cause of economic loss in the United States every year.

"I think when you look at the number of states effected — and we are seeing more than half of the country in severe drought — that the impacts of this could be pretty staggering when it's all said and done," Svoboda said.

Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns said, "When you look at the amount of territory covered in the United States by really severe drought, almost breathtaking drought, you can really see we do have a national emergency here."

Governor Johanns says the drought has hit his state particularly hard. "But for better farming practices, this is ‘Dust Bowl’ years all over again. The reason we haven't had so much of that is the farming practices are simply better than they were back in the 30's when that occurred."

The drought is not just hurting Nebraska's farmers. It is having a ripple effect on the entire state economy. So far, the drought has cost the "cornhusker state" more than a billion dollars.

"The impact is huge from an economic standpoint," Johanns said. "The number we've been throwing out there, with the economic ramifications, it's well over a billion dollars and that's a growing number."

Mike Ely, a fourth-generation farmer in Grafton, Nebraska, said, "This drought is the worst I've ever seen. I've farmed for 25 years and I've never seen extended periods of time with so little moisture."

Ely grows corn and soybeans on 1,200 acres. But with only two-thirds of his farm irrigated, Ely expects the remaining 400 acres to generate little or no crop at all.

"In a year's time, since last August, we are probably, about 12 inches short on moisture," he said. "We caught two inches of rain in the last, probably 7 to 8 weeks."

Ely says 10 inches of rain that fell in May is providing the ground water he needs to irrigate. But he knows if more rain does not raise the water table and fill his wells, irrigation will be impossible.

"We're not supposed to worry, but it's very difficult not to. You get out here and you get around this and you start thinking about the economic impact," Ely said. "You can get frustrated. You try to take things into your own hands but that doesn't work. You see that in these types of situations. God is in control… and so, that's the thing you remember in times like this."

Climatologists say the drought has lasted four or five years in some areas. And with almost two months of summer remaining, things could get worse before they get better. But some experts say an 'El Nino' weather pattern currently forming in the South Pacific could eventually bring the wet weather the middle and western states need.

Statistics from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicate that the current drought is one of the worst in U.S. history. It ranks behind only the droughts of the '30's and '50's in terms of total area dryness.

http://www.cbn.org/CBNNews/News/020806a.asp