Drought in HARPER, OKLAHOMA
From 01-APR-06 00:00:00 to 30-APR-06 23:59:00 (CST)
Property damage: 1.5M
Crop damage: 750K
Reported by: OTHER FEDERAL AGENCY

Despite some rainfall across portions of Oklahoma, the drought across the area persisted and actually worsened from a severe (D2) drought to an extreme (D3) drought across most of the area by the end of the month. The drought conditions continued to cause an increased wildfire potential, especially during the first part of the month, with many wildfires occurring across the western half of Oklahoma. One of the worst days for wildfires for the month was on April 6, 2006 due to strong winds, warm temperatures, and dry conditions. A fire near Cement in Caddo county caused the evacuation of the town and burned at least 7 homes. Another fire near Newcastle in McLain county caused an evacuation of some residents and also burned 7 homes. This fire also caused the closure of portions of Interstate 44 and Highways 37 and 76 during rush hour. The roads were all back open by 2100 CST. Several fires also burned homes and structures in Kingfisher and Oklahoma counties, with several other fires burning many acres across the area. However, the largest fire on April 6th occurred in Roger Mills county where approximately 30,000-50,000 acres were scorched. This fire began just west of the Oklahoma-Texas state line in the Texas Panhandle. The strong west winds caused the fire to quickly spread east into Roger Mills county. The fire burned an area between about 4 miles south of Reydon to 6 miles north of Sweetwater to within about 5 miles or less of Cheyenne. Despite the size of the fire, only three vacant homes were destroyed, a few head of livestock were lost, and no injuries or deaths occurred. Firefighters from 45 different departments in Oklahoma and Texas along with fire fighting aircraft were used to fight this fire. Many of the wildfires that occurred on April 6 were believed to have been started by sparks from power lines blowing together in the strong winds.The dry conditions and strong winds also caused blowing dust on April 6 that reduced visibilities across parts of western and central Oklahoma. In parts of western Oklahoma visibilities were reduced to less than a half a mile. These low visibilities also hampered firefighting activities on the large fire in Roger Mills county.The drought conditions along with above normal temperatures (several days above 90 degrees) had also continued to impact other groups across the area. The persistent drought continued to cause problems for farmers and ranchers by causing farm ponds to dry up and available food for livestock to decrease. The decrease in water for livestock has led to programs to assist farmers and ranchers in building new wells. However, due to the low water and shortage in hay or pasture from the fires, some people have been forced to sell some or all of their herd. Being the month before the winter wheat harvest begins, farmers and agriculture professionals were predicting the worst wheat crop since 1957 in many areas. As of April many fields of crops had already been declared disasters. The agriculture community was not the only area feeling the affects of the drought. The recreation industry has been affected due to low lake levels with some piers or docks unusable. Some towns were also beginning to institute volunteer water rationing programs.