No relief in sight for deadly Texas drought conditions

www.finalcall.com

HOUSTON (FinalCall.com) - Lack of rainfall and baking temperatures has Texas in the midst of its hottest consecutive ten months in the last century according to a recent report by the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Australia's rain may have moved to Antarctica - New Scientist

Australia's 40 yr drought linked to heavy snowfall over Antarctica

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527474.800-australias-rain-may-have-moved-to-antarctica.html

Record drought in Texas ends

HOUSTON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Climate experts in Texas say the state's worse drought in 50 years is over, ending a dry spell costing ranchers and farmers an estimated $4 billion.

SeedDaily.com | Dinner is grass in South Sudan after drought kills crops

Lobira Boma (AFP) Oct 11, 2009 - In a rustic village at the foot of a steep mountain, women prepare meals by crushing dried grasses, all there is to eat after drought left over a million people in south Sudan short of food. "You soak the herbs in water, and then eat. This is what we eat every day," said Juspine Ifuho, showing the fine green powder collected from a hollow in the rock she uses as a mortar. At the edge of ... more

AP | Water gushes down streets in drought-stricken LA

September 24, 2009

LOS ANGELES — Although the Los Angeles River looks more like a rain-starved trickle these days, parts of this drought-stricken city have been awash in an unusual sight — torrents of floodwater sweeping cars off streets and barbecues out of backyards.

Not a drop of rain has fallen on Los Angeles since June 5, according to the National Weather Service, but aging water pipes have been blowing up at the rate of more than one a day in recent weeks.

From the city's bohemian, beach-front community of Venice to the pre-World War II cottages that dot foothills surrounding the San Fernando Valley, people are becoming increasingly angry, muddy and wet as they watch millions of gallons of water wash away.

READ MORE>>>>

Mercury News | U.S.D.A. has declared that 50 of California's 58 counties are natural disaster areas because of crop losses due to the ongoing drought

AFP | Northern India - Due to exclusion from banking sector severe drought has resulted in suicides and increasing cases of human trafficking

India is facing a 24% annual rainfall deficiency

Drought-hit Indian farmers sell wives to pay debts

By Kulsum Mustafa (AFP)

LUCKNOW, India — Drought-hit farmers in northern India are resorting to selling their wives to repay debts to local loan sharks, activists say, as one of the weakest monsoons in years takes its toll.

Poverty, poor administration and a lack of education means farmers in the rugged Bundelkhand region are taking extreme steps to pull through a poor rainy season, they say.

"This has been happening for quite some time now, but people were hesitant to come out with all this," said Manoj Kumar, a social activist working with farmers in the area.

Excluded from the formal banking sector, the poverty-stricken farmers often turn to usurious private money lenders when banks refuse them loans or even accounts.

After five years of poor crop yields and steadily decreasing rainfall, the crushing weight of the high interest payments has led to a well-documented spate of suicides and increasing cases of human-trafficking.

Another social worker, Shailendra Sagar, said the situation of farmers in Bundelkhand, a region that spans the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, was "pathetic."

"They are living in debt. Selling off one's wife or daughters is the last resort," he said.

The sale price for married women is hard to ascertain and their fate after being sold is equally difficult to follow.

Local reports have suggested wives can be pawned or sold for anything between one rupee to 12,000 rupees (240 dollars).

Some women are sold under the guise of a legal marriage, complete with a formal contract, but activists believe others end up being exploited by prostitution rings.

In the last four to five years around 50 percent of the region's population has left Bundelkhand villages to find work in cities, and at least 500 farmers have committed suicide, according to various Indian media reports.

LATimes.com | Mexico water shortage becomes crisis amid drought

Crops are wilting in the countryside, and the capital's water shortage has turned dire as Mexico grapples with its worst drought in more than half a century.

Chron.com | Texas drought drying Austin's famed Barton Springs

AUSTIN, Texas — The most severe drought in the nation is drying up one of Austin's most treasured natural resources, the spring-fed Barton Creek Pool where more than 400,000 visitors from around the world flock each year.

The Texas drought is dragging into its third year in parts of central and southern Texas. Lakes, rivers and creeks are evaporating, cities have ordered residents to cut back on water use, and farmers' crops have been devastated.

read more.....