Dust Storms have been plaguing the West Texas plains for as long as most can remember. And the older community members, can remember as far as the "big one" in the 1930's. But the past 80 years or so, have not been as bad, until just a few months ago, in Lubbock. According to experts, due to the modern day irrigation of farm land, this should not be too common, but how do you stop a raging drought?
The problem we have here is the drought. And a severe one. The farmers used to keep plants growing in their fields, which would "hold the soil" down, for when those winds did come. The plants have died, the cotton fields which once held everything down, are almost non-existent. Texas farmers also do something they call "sand fighting" to keep the dirt from blowing away, by using a layer of silt on top of the ground, and the farmers poke small holes in the dirt, creating small mounds, like ant hills, that create a sort of resistance to the wind. And this isn't just wind, it's wind speeds reached 74 mph in some places and visibility was far less than a quarter of a mile. Dangerous conditions to say the least. The wind also knocked out power lines (along with trees and other structural landscape) servicing about 210,000 of the city's inhabitants. Dust so thick it hung in the air after the storm, filling the noses, ears and mouths of the folks living in the town, as well as anything that was located outdoors. Hopefully, Congress will not cut funding on the federal Conservation Reserve Program which keeps many farmers on the survival list, and comes up with new ways to minimize damage in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment