From
the KMIL News Room
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Dog Days Take Their Toll
 (Cameron)
July and August of 2000 will go down as two of the hottest and driest
summer months in history for Milam County. The conditions have
stretched area fire departments to the limit battling grass fires on a
daily basis. Firemen are summoned to two, three and sometimes up to
four grass fires in a single day. After a relatively mild start to
this sizzling summer of 2000, July 7th initiated a string of 23
consecutive 100+ days here in Cameron, and since then, 49 out of the last
51 days have hit or exceeded 100 degrees. In that same period, the
KMIL rain gauge recorded only .08 of an inch in July and .10 in
August. Our summer didn't start out this way though, with a mild May
and June in which no 100 degree days were recorded, and almost 3 inches of
rain in June alone. The early rains produced lush vegetation which
eventually dried up and enhanced the grass fire dangers here in Central
Texas.
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(Above and Below) A Grass fire on the old Elm Creek Dairy property kept firefighters busy for about an hour Friday afternoon. The fire was started by a spark from a farm implement |
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Comments or suggestions?
The
lack of rain has also prompted Cameron city officials to initiate an
odd/even outside watering program for city water customers.
Recently, the excessive demand for water has exceeded the amount of
treated water the city can produce. Officials have threatened to
replace the voluntary odd/even watering program with a mandatory program
enforced by fines, if residents do not cooperate in helping the city
restore and maintain it's normal water supply. 