Firework ban as US drought hits 4 July celebrations
Many states across the south of the United States are banning the use of fireworks for fear of starting more wildfires, as the nation’s severe drought continues.
The state of New Mexico has prohibited the sale of fireworks and urged people not to break the ban.
Georgia went a step further and actively removed fireworks from the shelves. Dozens of cities in Texas have cancelled much-anticipated firework displays, and half of Florida’s counties have followed suit.
The southern US is in the grip of a severe drought that has ruined crops and farm goods. Parts of Texas have not seen rain since 2010, and the Lone Star state received under half its average rainfall in May – typically Texas’s wettest month.
Last week the US Government designated the entire state of Texas a disaster area because of the lack of rain.
The bone-dry conditions have sparked wildfires across the south, with forest fires still raging in New Mexico. The nuclear weapons facility at Los Alamos was last week threatened by wildfires which caused the evacuation of 12,000 residents, although some people are now starting to return to the city.
The Los Alamos fire is now advancing on land sacred to native Americans.
In Texas alone wildfires have burned three million acres. Two firefighters have been killed in Florida battling wildfires. The weather forecast for 4 July has parts of the south hitting highs of 41 degrees C.
The dry conditions are the result of an exceptionally severe La Nina weather pattern which is a cooling of the tropical Pacific Ocean.
The northern United States is also suffering from extreme weather conditions, but this time because of flooding. Wheat production in North Dakota – which produces a third of the wheat for the US – has dropped by 10 per cent because of the rains.
Floods have also hit much of the Midwest, and in May tornadoes blasted towns in Missouri.
