By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent FRANKFORT, Ky. — In somewhat of a repeat of last year, this spring has been excessively wet, causing numerous flooding situations with storm damage occurring across various parts of Kentucky.
The flooding has reached disaster status, with Gov. Steve Beshear asking for federal assistance. Information from Beshear’s office noted “the Governor requested a disaster declaration for Kentucky’s farm families from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and also directed the temporary suspension of restrictions on certain motor carriers and utility vehicles delivering disaster relief supplies.”
Beshear said after viewing flooding and damages throughout western Kentucky, “It was clear that we need to expedite any assistance that can help our families recover more quickly … The floods have had devastating impact on spring plantings, and we need to move relief supplies into the state as fast as we can.”
Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Bowling Green released a statement regarding the damage in the western part of the state: “The severe weather, tornadoes, high winds and heavy rains have inundated western Kentucky, leaving residents with power outages, property loss and a record amount of flooding.
“As Gov. Steve Beshear declared a state of emergency for the Commonwealth yesterday, it’s important we come together as Kentuckians to look after our neighbors and communities. I keep the people of Kentucky in my prayers as we deal with the aftermath of this disaster.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) joined Paul in sending a letter to President Obama asking him to consider the disaster request from Beshear: “Since April 22, record flooding, high winds and tornadoes have swept through the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Forty-eight counties and 17 independent municipalities have requested assistance, as the severe storms caused extensive damage exceeding the ability of the state government and localities to effectively respond and triggering significant economic hardship,” wrote McConnell and Paul.
“Timely and serious consideration of the Governor’s disaster declaration request on your part would aid in providing essential services to Kentucky communities so severely affected by this most recent disaster, the ninth major disaster to impact the Commonwealth in three years.”
To date, those numbers have grown to 66 counties and 27 cities. Michael Matthews, a staff meteorologist at the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture, said with the ground being so saturated, any more rain will make the flooding situation even worse – and more rain is exactly what the area was expecting early in the week.
“So far, this is the wettest year to date,” he said. “We are looking at 25.7 inches, and that is number one.” That figure is for the central part of the state, but other regions have similar numbers.
Matthews also said while bad weather can occur anytime, the outbreaks experienced of late have been more numerous and volatile than normal. The long-term forecast calls for cooler than normal temperatures with near-normal rainfall.
A return to normal would be welcomed by farmers, as wet conditions have put them behind in their planting efforts at a critical point, especially for corn producers. Dr. Jim Herbek, a UK grain crops extension specialist, said the last couple of weeks have seen very little planting activity in western Kentucky.
“We are definitely behind in our corn planting. We’d like to see it basically, here in west Kentucky, in by early May for optimum yield,” he said. “We are right on the doorstep.”
Herbek added after last year’s decreased yields to drought conditions, a delay in planting this year is something producers do not need. “We are going to be on the side past the optimum planting date, so we hope we don’t have a dry summer again,” he said.
He pointed out it will take several days without rain to provide dry enough field conditions to allow planting to continue.
As corn prices have surged, Kentucky corn producers were on track to plant 60,000 acres more than the 2010 crop. |
