By John Sutter
After being petitioned by the governor, the state agriculture secretary, two U.S. senators and a U.S. congressman, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Thursday that it will send drought relief to two Oklahoma Panhandle counties hit with a drought that’s been compared to the devastating 1930s Dust Bowl.
The disaster declaration comes after state Agriculture Secretary Terry Peach said that drought relief likely wouldn’t come until September. The drought has plagued Cimarron and Texas counties–at the western end of the Panhandle–for more than a year. Climatologists and officials didn’t take notice until the spring, after a Cimarron County commissioner sent a letter to state government.
Conservation officials prompted that letter, and, in effect, it led to the area being given the government’s most severe drought rating– “exceptional” — and to recent visits by Peach and Assistant State Climatologist Gary McManus.
Read more about the people of the Panhandle and the lead-up to Thursday’s disaster declaration in previous blog posts.