Drought conditions decline in Orange, Sullivan.
Times Herald-Record @MikeRandall845 As the region faced a flood watch on Thursday, word came that the drought continued to decline in Orange and Sullivan counties during the past week.
The drought increased slightly in Ulster County during the same period.
According to the National Drought Mitigation Center, readings taken Tuesday showed 92.72 percent of Orange County was under moderate drought conditions, the first of four stages of drought established by the center.
The entire county had been under moderate drought conditions the two prior weeks.
The remaining 7.28 percent of the county was abnormally dry, one step away from a drought.
The percentage of Sullivan County under moderate drought conditions dropped to 9.71 percent from 17.56 percent.
Another 89.56 percent of Sullivan County was abnormally dry, and a tiny sliver, .73 percent, showed no signs of drought or pre-drought conditions.
Ulster County’s percentage of moderate drought grew to 37.15 percent from 34.46 percent.
The remaining 62.85 percent of the county was abnormally dry.

Drought: It’s raining, but not enough.
HARRISBURG – The drought notice for Franklin, Cumberland and Dauphin counties remains in effect.
DEP encourages a voluntary water use reduction of 5 percent.
“Although recent rainfall has, in the short term, put stream flows at normal or even higher than normal levels in these counties, groundwater levels have been lingering below normal.said Patrick McDonnell, acting secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
DEP suggests several steps citizens can take to voluntarily reduce their water use: • Run water only when necessary.
Don’t let the faucet run while brushing your teeth or shaving.
• Run the dishwasher and washing machine only with full loads.
• Check for household leaks.
A leaking toilet can waste up to 200 gallons of water each day.
• Install low-flow plumbing fixtures and aerators on faucets.

The Department of Environmental Quality says the mountains and the Piedmont are still significantly dry.
DEQ says there was less precipitation this winter than anticipated.
That’s usually a replenishing season for rivers and reservoirs.
But the weather this spring has already started to reverse that trend, according to DEQ spokeswoman Marla Sink.
“Just in the last week, we’ve seen significant precipitation fall in the mountains and the Piedmont, and that is just welcome,” Sink said.
The drought is affecting nearly 40 counties currently under moderate drought conditions.
Seven counties in the mountains are severely dry.
But Sink said drought conditions are still better now than they were last fall after more than a dozen wildfires broke out in the mountains, followed by an unusually dry winter.
“We were concerned a bit because that is usually our replenishing system for our rivers and our reservoirs, but what we’re seeing now in the last week is very, very welcome and has replenished those areas,” Sink said.
The department anticipates a normal amount of rainfall this spring, which should also help drought conditions, Sink said.

Drought eases in Eastern Connecticut following rainy stretch.
(WTNH) — The most recent drought update provides good news for Connecticut.
The drought has ended in Windham County, and it’s over for most of Tolland and New London Counties, too.
A moderate drought continues in 74% of the state, but that’s down from 88% last week.
The severe drought continues in 34% of Connecticut.
It’s mainly in northern New Haven County, Litchfield County, and western Hartford County.
Last week 42% of the state was in a severe drought, and three months ago that number was 83%.
Continued improvement is possible with next Thursday’s update.
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Corps of Engineers launching new drought operations for ACF Basin.
The drought that has caused Lake Lanier to drop well below its full pool level is now forcing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to take a different approach to downstream water releases.
The corps’ Mobile District office announced it has begun implementing drought operations on the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint Basin.
Officials said they are cutting the releases from 12,100 cubic feet per second to 5,000 cubic feet per second at Jim Woodruff Lock and Dam at Lake Seminole, where the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers merge on the Georgia-Florida line to become the Apalachicola.
“By entering drought operations, the minimum flow into the Apalachicola River to protect threatened and endangered species becomes 5,000 cubic feet per second,” District Public Affairs Officer Lisa Hunter said in a statement.
“Provisions of the ACF drought plan allow us to maintain this minimum flow and store all available rainfall, when possible, until the basin recovers sufficiently to come out of drought operations.” The new reduced water releases were put into place immediately after a new water control manual for the basin, which allows the corps to start drought operations sooner, was put into effect.
Another reservoir on the river, however, is Lake Lanier, which has seen water levels drop from last May until this spring, bottoming out at 1,060.22 on Dec. 31.
That is still nearly nine feet below its full pool level of 1,071 feet.
Still, the above normal levels at two of the three reservoirs on the Chattahoochee, as well as the heavy rains that moved through Georgia this week, means there will be some lag on getting water releases down to 5,000 cubic feet per second.
“Because the West Point and Walter F. George reservoirs are above normal pool levels and normal rainfall is forecasted this week, reduced releases from the Jim Woodruff Lock and Dam will not occur immediately.” Hunter said.

The 63-year-old left his job as a national accounts manager at Carquest Auto Parts in Virginia and moved to Florida for the sole purpose of casting and reeling.
But he remains a snowbird and spends his summers up north and his winters in White Springs in Hamilton County.
“The whole area has been impacted,” he said Thursday while fishing on the banks of Lake Eagle in White Springs, “and I’m just not catching fish.” Yet after the 2.74 inches rain so far this week, a number tallied at the Gainesville Regional Airport, fishing conditions seem to be looking up.
Chandler and his friend Robert Wolf, 71, headed straight for Eagle Lake Thursday following the rain.
But this may change thanks to the rain.
“We love sharing the lakes so that people can use them and so all these things,” he said, “but we have to temper that with making sure we don’t mess up anything environmentally.” The rain comes as some parts of North Central Florida have been seeing severe-drought conditions, said Amanda Holly, a WUFT News forecaster.
But those parts are now in a moderate drought at worst, she said.
The only counties still in severe droughts are in southern Central Florida.
“Fishing isn’t a matter of luck.
“But you can’t fish if you don’t have water.”

Rain improving Massachusetts’ drought conditions.
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“Rain is always beneficial.
It creates flooding and things like that, but we need it,” said Angelie Peterson of Easthampton.
Rain came down hard all day in Franklin County and it led to some minor street flooding, like on Avenue A in Turners Falls.
Much of Franklin County remains in a moderate drought.
Morenon said last summer’s lack of rain hurt Franklin County farmers.
According to the USDA, drought conditions in Massachusetts are improving.
Morenon did add that a very rainy early spring could delay planting in the fields, but she’s not expecting that to happen.
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Despite rain, parts of York County still in drought.
(WGME) WELLS (WGME) — Despite the snow, and rain, parts of York County are still in a drought, and they have been for months.
For farmer Abe Zacharias, this rain is a welcome sight, especially after the severe drought he and other farmers went through last summer in southern York County.
"It was the worst drought that I’ve seen farming, Zacharias said.
Zacharias says his irrigation system and retention ponds saved his crops last year.
"Last year if I didn’t have water, it would have been a really, really bad year," Zacharias said.
Planting season is here, and even though his farm is still in a drought, his ponds are full right now and ready should he need the water.
The ponds are full.
West of York, in the town of Berwick, some people still won’t drink the water after it turned black last summer.
The town manager says the manganese is now under control and the water is safe to drink, but Ricker and other customers say they still won’t drink it.

Anderson remains in severe drought status.
After receiving 2 full inches of rainfall Wednesday, downtown Anderson’s 2017 total is nearly 2 inches below normal for the first 95 days of the year.
"There has been some conspicuous improvement in the upper levels of the soil and the near term looks good for the beginning of the planting season, but at the deeper levels the soil is still very dry."
"These upper Savannah reservoirs look like what you would see during a long hot, dry summer," said Chastain, a Pickens County resident and the West Area representative on the drought committee.
According to the South Carolina Forestry Commission, wildfire activity in March was 70 percent higher than usual for this time of the year.
The Upstate counties will remain in their current drought statuses due to low stream flow levels and notable declines in water levels for reservoirs in the Savannah and Saluda Basins.
The recent rains improved stream flow conditions, but those improved conditions are expected to only be temporary.
The committee will meet again before the end of May to discuss drought conditions and change county drought statuses if necessary.
“Rains over the last two weeks have accelerated field preparation and corn planting,” S.C. Department of Agriculture Assistant Commissioner Aaron Wood stated.
“Winter wheat, cool-season pasture, spring forage, and early-season vegetable yields look to be down because of poor growing conditions.”

Somalia on the brink of total collapse.
Every day, more than 3,000 Somalis abandon their homes in search of food and water.
With no rain in sight, the crisis only stands to get worse.
The UN is seeking $863 million in emergency humanitarian aid for Somalia, where catastrophic drought has put the country on the brink of mass starvation and total collapse.
The country is just recovering from its most recent drought in 2011 that killed 260,000 people in southern and central Somalia.
But this time, aid experts worry the death toll could be far higher, as drought is impacting the whole country.
Parents have been forced to make a heartbreaking decision: watch their children die of dehydration or give them contaminated water, which has ignited the spread of waterborne diseases.
And with only two malnutrition clinics in the state, hundreds of miles apart, the majority of families can’t make the distance.
Gianna Toboni met the people most affected from the country’s drought.
We travel to drought-stricken Somalia where thousands are fleeing their homes in search of food and water Error loading player: No playable sources found VICE News Tonight 5 minutes Somalia’s Devastating Drought VICE News Tonight Somalia’s Devastating Drought Embed This Video Copy and paste this code wherever you want, the internet is a magical place Reload to watch reload Flash plugin failed to load Please check if you have flash installed Somalia’s Devastating Drought