Latest Droughts News

Salt water wedge in the Mississippi River threatens drinking water in Louisiana

Sep. 22, 2023 20:06 PM EDT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Salt water from the Gulf of Mexico is creeping up the drought-stricken Mississippi River and threatening drinking water supplies in some Louisiana communities, including New Orleans, prompting the state's governor to warn Friday he may request federal help. ...

1.5 million people asked to conserve water in Seattle because of statewide drought

Sep. 21, 2023 18:50 PM EDT

SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle Public Utilities is asking about 1.5 million customers in the Seattle area to use less water as drought conditions continue throughout most of the state. Residents on Thursday were asked to stop watering their lawns, to reduce shower time, to only run full...

Dominican Republic's president stands resolute on his closing of all borders with Haiti

Sep. 17, 2023 20:00 PM EDT

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The president of the Dominican Republic on Sunday defended his decision to close air, sea and land traffic with neighboring Haiti in their dispute over construction of a canal targeting a river that runs through both countries. President...

Kansas cancels its fall turkey hunting season amid declining populations in pockets of the US

Sep. 15, 2023 18:28 PM EDT

Kansas has canceled its fall turkey hunting season, state officials announced Friday, amid a decline in turkey populations across the Midwest and Southeast. Kansas has documented “consistent declines” in turkey populations over the last 15 years, the state's Department of...

Dominican Republic closes all borders with Haiti as tensions rise in a dispute over a canal

Sep. 15, 2023 15:59 PM EDT

DAJABON, Dominican Republic (AP) — The Dominican Republic shut all land, air and sea borders with Haiti on Friday in a dispute about construction of a canal on Haitian soil that taps into a shared river, as armed Dominican soldiers patrolled entry points and military planes roared overhead. ...

France sends the army to ensure water to drought-stricken Indian Ocean island of Mayotte

Sep. 14, 2023 07:13 AM EDT

PARIS (AP) — France is sending military forces to distribute water on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, which is facing an unprecedented water crisis prompted by the island cluster's most severe drought in decades. Troops with the French Foreign Legion and French navy...

Workers exposed to extreme heat have no consistent protection in the US

Aug. 28, 2023 00:57 AM EDT

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Santos Brizuela spent more than two decades laboring outdoors, persisting despite a bout of heatstroke while cutting sugarcane in Mexico and chronic laryngitis from repeated exposure to the hot sun while on various other jobs. But last summer, while on a...

Hungry Ohio Bobcats hope to end MAC title drought by dethroning favored Toledo

Aug. 23, 2023 11:41 AM EDT

Last season, Ohio quarterback Kurtis Rourke had the Bobcats on the cusp of winning their first Mid-American Conference crown since 1968. Then he tore a knee ligament and Ohio lost its fifth league championship game. Nine months later, the MAC's reigning offensive player of the year...

Climate change may force more farmers and ranchers to consider irrigation -- at a steep cost

Aug. 23, 2023 10:07 AM EDT

The Texas ranch where Gilda Jackson trains and sells horses has been plagued by grasshoppers this year, a problem that only gets worse when the hatch quickens in times of heat and drought. Jackson watched this summer as the insects chewed through a 35-acre pasture she badly needs for hay; what they...

California's big bloom aids seed collectors as climate change and wildfires threaten desert species

Aug. 20, 2023 01:11 AM EDT

JOSHUA TREE, Calif. (AP) — Flowers that haven't been seen in years bloomed across Southern California this spring after massive winter downpours, creating not only colorful landscapes but a boon for conservationists eager to gather desert seeds as an insurance policy against a hotter and drier...