Chesterton Tribune

Central Indiana in extreme drought; fish kills reported

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis and several nearby counties have been added to the parts of Indiana listed as being in extreme drought.

The new U.S. Drought Monitor report released Thursday lists nearly 30 percent of Indiana as being in extreme drought. That’s up from about 23 percent of the state a week ago, with much of the northeastern and southwestern part of Indiana still listed in extreme drought.

The report labels more than 99 percent of Indiana in at least moderate drought after scant rainfall over the past couple months.

The drought has experts rating more than half of Indiana’s corn crop in poor or very poor condition and the city of Indianapolis imposing a ban on lawn watering because of dropping reservoirs.

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — The state Department of Natural Resources says low water levels caused by the drought are leading to reports of fish kills throughout Indiana.

DNR spokesman Phil Bloom says the kills are being caused by warming water and low water levels. He says there have been reports of kills ranging from five fish in the 18- to 24-inch range in the Tippecanoe River near Winamac in Pulaski County, 60 miles southwest of South Bend, to hundreds of fish at Atterbury Fish and Wildlife Area in Johnson County, 30 miles southeast of Indianapolis.

Bloom says there might be one positive coming out of the low water levels, though. He says the DNR is receiving reports of Asian carp becoming trapped in backwaters off the Wabash River in southern Indiana and dying off.

 

 

 

Posted 7/13/2012