As the nation's ranches and farms endure one of the most severe droughts in decades, the Obama administration has ordered the Pentagon to look into purchasing a "second helping" of all things meat.
CNN's Alexandra Steele discusses the severity of the drought and explains how long conditions are expected to persist.
The Mississippi River was closed at two different locations Thursday after a barge ran aground near Greenville, Mississippi, and the Army Corps of Engineers carried out dredging operations near La Crosse, Wisconsin.
The historic drought has left over half of U.S. counties in danger zones according to the Department of Agriculture.
The area of the United States in extreme or exceptional drought grew by an area roughly the size of Alabama over the past week, according to new figures out Thursday.
Livestock producers suffering through one of the most severe droughts in decades will most likely have to wait until Congress returns from its August recess before getting any new federal disaster assistance.
The drought is causing cattlemen and ranchers from around the U.S. to ask for hay from Minnesota farmers.
The pool is closed in Warrenton, Missouri. Cattle ponds are drying up in Arkansas. Illinois is in danger of losing its corn crop.
Farmers, boating companies and restaurants are among the growing number of small businesses reeling from the worst drought to hit the United States in 12 years.
Triple-digit heat afflicted the middle of the U.S. for days on end. Lisa Sylvester reports on beating the heat.
A dry and mild spring led Don Villwock, like all of Indiana's corn and soybean farmers, to plant two weeks early this year. He was hopeful for a bountiful Labor Day harvest.
Nima Elbagir reports on one micro-insurance scheme in northern Kenya that is offering hope to farmers in the region.
Wacho Yayo and his wife Dawe are used to seeing the plants shrivel around them, the earth crack and their cattle die. Every time a drought has hit this elderly couple's village in northern Kenya they have had to rebuild their lives all over again.
An accident in a tunnel at a construction project near Las Vegas killed one worker and injured another on Monday, the agency operating the site said.
North Korea is facing possibly its worst drought in 50 years, state media reported this week.
CNN's David McKenzie reports from Africa's Sahel region where U.N. says drought threatens lives of one million children.
The Arabic nomads in central Chad always have moved from place to place, following the rains with their camels and cattle. But in that parched stretch of Africa, some nomads have stopped moving, saying the droughts now come too often.
Rains will bring some relief to drought-stricken Mexico this week, but they will not be enough alleviate the bigger challenges, officials say.
A small central Texas community has begun trucking in thousands of gallons of water to avoid running dry during the state's historic drought, a water official said.
Faced with a dwindling water supply, Spicewood Beach, Texas, has been forced to truck in water. YNN Austin reports.
Rain in Argentina on Tuesday brought some relief to the drought-stricken central part of the country, but concerns remained.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is battling a large grass fire in the marshlands of Jefferson County, Texas, an agency official told CNN on Tuesday.
Texas farmers suffering from a drought get a donation of hay from Indiana farmers. KTVT reports.
As many as a half-billion trees may have died across Texas from the effects of the 2011 drought, the state's forest service says.
The Southern Plains of the United States are likely to see a continuation of a severe drought this winter, while the Pacific Northwest will be colder and wetter than average, according to data released Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Much-needed rain fell across drought-stricken Texas on Sunday, offering relief but no end to what's been one of the state's driest years on record.
The World Bank said that it is increasing funding to the war-wracked and drought-stricken Horn of Africa to $1.88 billion from more than $500 million, a generous gesture that coincides with a U.N. mini-summit on the devastated region.
As the Horn of Africa suffers its worst drought for 60 years, there are reports of growing conflict between people and wildlife over the region's limited resources.
A historic drought in southern China has caused billions of dollars in losses to agriculture and left millions of people and animals short of drinking water, government officials said Tuesday.
The Texas wildfires are adding economic trauma to a state that has already suffered billions of dollars in agricultural damages from an ongoing drought.
A few weeks ago, Sengaba Ibrahim began her march through the arid wasteland of Somalia's famine zones, an arduous trek not just for this 60-year-old woman, but for thousands of others who chance their lives in search of food and water in the drought-stricken region.
High winds whipped up a spreading wildfire in northern Texas on Wednesday as firefighters battled several blazes across the tinder-dry state.
The heat wave and drought are causing some farmers to fear that their livestock and horses may starve.
With Texas scorched by a blistering hot summer and parched by a 10-month drought, state agriculture officials are counting a record $5.2 billion in commodity losses, according to Texas A&M agriculture economists.
A campaign to raise funds for starving Kenyans has galvanized the nation as families battle a devastating drought in the nation's northern region.
CNN's Ed Lavandera looks at a controversial plan to bring more drinking water to parts of Texas.
Exceptional drought conditions spread across nearly 12% of the United States last month, a record number that shows the widespread impact of the dry weather conditions, according to a report released Monday.
For young children in drought-stricken areas of Kenya, primary schools providing free lunchtime meals are operating as "life-saving centers" in communities where food is increasingly scarce.
Parts of Somalia are experiencing their first famine in 19 years amid a "perfect storm" of weather and conflict.
I recently visited Garissa, Kenya -- a city of at least 180,000 people not far from the border with Somalia -- and areas to the north to see how this year's drought has impacted families in the area.
Portella of Mercy Corps documents drought and desperation in East Africa.
Severe drought, crop failure, livestock deaths, soaring food prices and armed conflict are forcing millions of people in the Horn of Africa to flee their homes, creating what U.S. State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development officials Tuesday described as "staggering hunger," with more than 11 million people now in need of emergency assistance.
A severe drought in Kenya and Somalia is causing malnourishment in children.
The U.S. wants to test claims by Somalia's al Qaeda-linked group Al-Shabaab that it will lift the ban on relief organizations to avoid a humanitarian disaster caused by drought in the Horn of Africa nation, the State Department said Wednesday.
The oohs and aahs of the Independence Day holiday will be more subdued this year in Texas, where months of severe drought have led to restrictions on fireworks across much of the state.
More than 800 Somali children are arriving at crowded refugee camps in Kenya daily after walking for days to escape a prolonged drought, an aid group said this week.
Hong Yulan has fished the shallow waters of Dongting Lake for nearly 30 years, but this summer she is doing something she never fathomed possible: walking across the bottom of her lake.
China's Three Gorges Dam may be contributing to the country's drought. CNN's Ramy Inocencio reports.
In a rare admission, the Chinese government has said the Three Gorges Dam -- the world's largest hydropower plant -- is having "urgent problems," warning of environmental, construction and migration "disasters" amid the worst drought to hit southern China in 50 years.
CNN's Ralitsa Vassileva takes a look at the drought in China and its global implications.
China's government will invest $1 billion to combat a three month drought crippling the country's north.
Two major droughts in Brazil's Amazon region in the last six years threaten to undermine its role as the planet's most important carbon sink and a vital brake on climate change, according to new research.
China can't dam or divert water quickly enough to keep up with its thirsty population, and the shortage has reached crisis levels in Beijing and other areas.
Dams have dried up in southwest China, Thai fishermen have almost completely stopped their fishery activities on the Mekong River, and nearly half of northern Vietnam's farmland is under threat because of a regional drought.
Recent rainfall has brought new vegetation to parts of Kenya that haven't seen rain for years, but aid workers say it's too little, too late to undo the damage caused by years of drought.
Residents of the Venezuelan capital on Monday began to experience water rationing as part of a government preservation measure during a drought.
Typhoon Morakot dumped heavy rain on Taiwan early Saturday and threatened to further soak the recently drought-stricken island.
Marjorye Heeney knew something was wrong when she saw a bulging cloud of black dust darken the sky.
Fifty-year-old farmer Du Jianmin says if it doesn't rain soon in his corner of northern China, his winter wheat crops -- which his village of 120 people relies on for food for the year -- will die.
The breadbasket of China is facing its worst drought in years. CNN's Emily Chang reports.
Rain fell in four provinces this week, but China will still have to take serious measures to combat what some have called the worst drought in half a century, government officials said.
The Chinese government brought out the big guns over the weekend to help fight its worst drought in 50 years.
China is suffering another natural disaster -- this time, the worst drought in half a century. The land is parched and the irrigation dams have dried up. Crops and livestock are dying.
Five million residents in Mexico City and its metro area could soon start feeling the effects of water cutbacks imposed Friday due to drought conditions.
Argentine farmers face their worst drought in 50 years. CNN's Brian Byrnes reports.
In a small farming town 105 kilometers (65 miles) southwest of Buenos Aires, farmers are struggling to nourish their crops and feed their animals. The worst drought in half a century has turned Argentina's once-fertile soil to dust and pushed the country into a state of emergency.
It's shearing season in NSW, Australia, where farmers are dealing with a severe on-going drought.
It sounds like the ultimate advertisement jingle for a holiday: Blue skies, nothing but blue skies, all day long.
Tropical Storm Cristobal, the first tropical storm to menace the Southeast seaboard this hurricane season, sent outer bands of intermittent rain late Saturday
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a statewide drought after two years of below-average rainfall, low snowmelt runoff and a court-ordered restriction on water transfers
Spain is reeling from its most severe drought in 70 years with the nation's reservoirs on average just half full, the Environment Ministry reports.
Thanks to a rainy holiday season, the Atlanta area stayed just above its historical low-water mark for annual rainfall, the National Weather Service reported.
Federal biologists said Friday they had signed off on a plan aimed at providing relief to the drought-parched Southeast, under which more water will be retained in Georgia instead of being released into Florida.
It's called the "Forgotten Coast," a sleepy stretch of Florida's Panhandle that is the heart of the state's oyster industry.
Drought is slowing the flow of fresh water to Florida, threatening the oyster industry. CNN's John Zarrella reports
Governors of three drought-ridden Southern states met with federal officials to address water usage issues for two river basins Thursday, as the Army Corps of Engineers is expected to present a plan meant to relieve regions dangerously low on water.
Water war
updated: Fri Nov 02 2007 21:43:00
CNN's Rusty Dornin has more on the fight over water between Georgia, Alabama and Florida.
It depends on where you are, but for many drought-stricken farmers, the Midwest rains are alleviating a bad summer for soybean and corn crops
As wildfires ravaged four counties in southeastern Georgia, two boys were charged in connection with starting small fires in that region, authorities said Thursday.
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