User:Storm05/Worldwide Drought of 2006

The Worldwide Drought of 2005-06 was a severe drought affecting the central and eastern United States, Europe and Horn of Africa. In its beginning, the drought was two separate droughts which merged into one drought affecting at least three continents. As of March 2006, the drought has caused severe food shortages in east Africa and threat of wildfires in the Central and Eastern United States and abnormally dry conditions in Australia and Europe. Many scientists believe that La Nina is the cause of the worldwide drought.

Causes
The origin of the drought dates back to December 2005 when there was lack of rainfall across the central United States and eastern Africa. By January 2006, much of East Africa, Midwestern United States and Central Europe was hard hit by food and water shortages. In March 2006, the U.S. part of the drought moved eastward affecting the East Coast of the United States with abnormally dry or severe drought conditions which forced state and local officials to issue red flag warnings in as far north as New England due to the threat of wildfires.

Impact
As of March 2006, 38 people died in the drought (seven in the United States and 30 in east Africa) and there was over $1 billion dollars (2006 USD) in damage from food and water shortages, wildfires, etc. Between 40-50 million people were affected by the drought. Drought conditions also affected the Caribbean, central Europe and Asia.

United States
The United States was one of the countries hard hit by the 2005-06 drought as dry conditions caused extensive water restrictions and caused an outbreak of wildfires in the Great Plains. In Virginia about seven people were killed by the drought (mainly by wildfires) and there was an estimated $1 billion dollars (2006 USD) in damage. Since December 2005, 36 percent of the United States was affected by the drought.

Midwest
Texas and Oklahoma were the hardest hit U.S. states during the 2005-06 drought as lack of rainfall produced drought conditions never seen since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. In Texas, the drought forced water management officials to issue severe water restrictions and there was a significant impact to livestock.

In addtion to the severe dry conditions, the drought caused an outbreak of wildfires that began on December 31, 2005 in Texas and Oklahoma which killed seven people, burned over a million acres and left millions in damage by January 1, 2006.

Elsewhere firefighters In Iowa and Nerbraska battled another brush fire which burned near a casino and did no damage. Drought conditions were also reported in Kanas, Missouri and Ohio Valley states.

Virginia
Virginia didn't see the full fury of the drought until March 2006 when the deficit fell to 1.8 inches below normal which made it the driest March in Virginia history. 80 locales in Virginia declared a state of emergency and ground water levels were below normal. In late March, dry conditons and high winds caused several outbreaks of brush fires, the first was reported in the Blue Ridge Mountians which was quickly contained. Later on the same day, another brush fire was reported in northern Virginia where it damaged a house, closed several roads and shut down a rail line. On March 15, wild fires were reported in York, Suffolk and Glouster counties forcing authorities to issue a ban on outdoor burning and red flag alerts for the entire state. The final report of brush fire occurred on March 27 when a pile of debris caught fire and forced the evacuation of six homes.

North Carolina
North Carolina suffered the worst of the drought on the east coast as every county in the state was abnormally dry or in a severe drought when the deficit fell below 4 1/2 inches below normal. The drought also caused an outbreak of brush fires across North Carolina which totaled to 1,500 by the end of March. The fires did moderate damage and there were no reports of injuries or deaths.

Maryland
Moderate drought conditions were declared across southern Maryland while the rest of Maryland remained abnormally dry. Since February 2006, the state received only 0.18 inches of rain. The dry weather also caused about 300 reported brush fires.

Mid Atlantic
In Delaware, dry conditions threatened crops and caused scattered reports of brush fires. Elsewhere, disaster loans were given to small farms and businesses in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.

Africa
Western and Eastern Africa were also hard hit by the drought that left 30-100 people dead and caused a humanitarian crisis since early 2006. About 21 people in Africa were affected by the food shortages caused by the drought and prolonged conflicts in both regions and the United States and other countries had poured $215-300 million dollars in humanitarian aid and supplies.

Europe
Many countries in Europe reported unusually dry conditions during the 2005-06 winter. In Great Britain, there were severe water restrictions that affected 3.7 million people. Similar drought conditions were also reported in France, Denmark and the Netherlands. Portugal and Spain were hardest hit as the drought damaged much of the crop and livestock and heightened the threat of forest fires.

Australia
Australia experienced abnormally dry conditions in a three month period, most of it being in Queensland.

Canada
The Canadian providence of Alberta reported temperatures above normal and dry conditions in December 2005 which put the providence under a drought alert which remained through March 2006

Asia
In Timor Leste, lack of rainfall and poor infrastructure caused isolated food shortages and significantly decimated crops. Drought conditions a also caused food shortages in East Timor and Mongolia.