The Advocate. November 8, 2023.
Editorial: A dangerous, and costly, year of drought
In normally waterlogged Louisiana, the swamps are now so dry that they’re catching fire.
The Great Drought of 2023 is causing vast financial losses from wildfires and damage to crops and animals on ranches.
For city dwellers, maybe the biggest impact was visible in last month’s deadly traffic accident on Interstate 55 near Manchac, caused by a dangerous mix of fog and smoke from burning swamp timber. The two hazards combined again Tuesday morning to cause another fatal crash in New Orleans East, which shut down Interstate 10.
And it’s not over.
“The fires and drought conditions are ongoing. There were several fires last week,” reported forester Robbie Hutchins of the LSU AgCenter.
He is based in central Louisiana, where pine forests have been the scene of some of the largest fires. The 31,000-acre Tiger Island fire in Beauregard Parish swallowed huge amounts of timber.
Some of those trees were relatively young and destined for pulpwood, but others were the older and high-value trees that provide lumber for building materials. Hutchins’ conservative estimate is $71 million in economic losses, but that could be much higher if the more valuable trees succumb.
Drought is also affecting trade on the Mississippi River, impeding shipments of farm products from the Midwestern states, where they too needed much more rain than they’ve received this year.
That’s a problem for big farms with row crops like corn and soybeans. But it’s a larger burden for small farmers, many of them serving targeted markets for vegetables and not typically used to spending a lot of money on irrigation.
The Great Drought isn’t over yet. And the costs continue to mount.
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