The new state drought monitor for the week ending July 7 shows Columbus County in even worse shape than last week.
For the first time in several years, areas of Columbus and other counties are listed as being under exceptional drought conditions – the most serious category used by the drought monitor. The monitor is updated every Thursday.
Most of Columbus is now listed in extreme drought conditions, with a small portion on the Brunswick County line in exceptional drought. The extreme western part of the county is still listed as severe.
Eastern Bladen County is considered in extreme conditions while most of Bladen is listed as severe. Southern Brunswick is seeing exceptional drought, while most of Brunswick is considered extreme. Voluntary water restrictions are in place in Brunswick and Bladen counties, but no restrictions have been set in Columbus.
All of the state is under some level of drought, according to the N.C. Drought Monitor. One small area in the extreme northeast is considered abnormally dry, while a large swath of the state is under extreme drought conditions.
State emergency officials are extremely concerned over the extreme conditions in western North Carolina, where storm debris from Hurricane Helene is still on the ground in many place, providing fuel for wildfires.
The National Weather Service said that as of Wednesday, most of Southeastern North Carolina has seen 50 percent of the average annual rainfall for the year.
