Editor’s note: An earlier version of this report featured an outdated graphic.
Around 80 percent of Columbus County is now experiencing extreme drought conditions.
The N.C. Drought Monitor released this morning showed most of Columbus south and west of U.S. 701 to be in extreme drought, with far western Columbus listed only as severe. No water restrictions of burn bans have been issued here, officials said. Brunswick County is under water restrictions for public utility customers, as is the town of White Lake in Bladen County. Other municipalities across the area are closely monitoring water levels.
Farmers are facing the double-punch of last fall’s dry conditions and continuing drought during a critical part of the growing season, said Dr. Howard Wallace of Columbus County Cooperative Extension Office.
“The farmers are just having to deal with what the Lord is giving us,” he said.
Central and southeastern areas of the county are suffering the worst, he said, although all farmers are feeling the pinch.
“We have got to have a strong corn crop, because corn prices are down,” he said, “but the farmers re not getting the rain when they need it.
“We have so many bodies of water in the county and they play a role,” he said. “When weather comes in from the west, it scatters when it hits the Lumber River. The same happens from the south with the Waccamaw. And while we rarely get any rain from the north, it breaks up when it hits the Cape Fear.”
What rain that is coming in tends to be concentrated in some areas, he said.
“That last storm we had, we got around a quarter of an inch the western part of the county where I live,” he said. “I talked with some folks around Tabor City who had an inch or more. Some pockets just get more.”
“I am not going to say it’s the worst we have ever seen,” Wallace said, “but it is pretty bad right now.”
