Browse Natural Disasters Stories - Page 6

The current highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5 outbreak in the United States is a concern for the commercial poultry industry, not the general population, says a University of Georgia poultry expert. Humans won’t be infected with avian influenza by eating chicken or other poultry products. Nearly all previous cases of human infections with other avian influenza viruses involved close, direct contact with infected poultry, but little to no direct transmission from person to person. While the HPAI H5 virus has caused some severe devastation for the U.S. commercial poultry industry, there have been no reports of infections in humans, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers the risk to people from this virus to be low.

For decades families have relied on NOAA weather radios to alert them to hazardous weather conditions near their homes. Updates in technology now give the public options for staying abreast of weather conditions while on the go.

Forecasters initially projected that rains from Hurricane Isaac could erase or at least put a large dent in Georgia’s drought, but the state has seen little relief.

Severe drought in the Midwest corn-belt is driving up poultry feed costs in Georgia. Economists and poultry industry experts predict corn costs will increase 50 percent in 2012 compared to typical years. Some economists say corn prices could double by the end of the summer.

Farmers can’t control when drought, a late freeze or violent crop-wrenching storms will affect their fields, but they can be prepared when those disasters come knocking.

The new soil-testing lab at the Zanmi Agricol Learning Center Fritz Lafontant in Corporant, Haiti isn’t sophisticated.B but it works, and that’s enough to change the lives of many Haitian farmers.

In spite of record-setting high temperatures at the end of the month, June was slightly cooler than normal in Georgia. Rainfall across the state varied greatly as Tropical Storm Debby dumped more than 10 inches on the southern half, but left north Georgia dry.

Weather conditions in May continued this year's trend of above-normal temperatures in Georgia with some areas seeing higher than normal rainfall and other areas still experiencing drought conditions.

Haitian farmers have toiled for more than a century to grow crops in the nation’s notoriously ravaged farmlands. A new soil-testing lab, scheduled to open in June, should help farmers in Haiti improve their yields.