Reading Time: 2 minutes Areas of Manitoba are at moderate to major risk of flooding, according to the province’s first full flood outlook for the spring. Levels of future snowfall and/or rainfall, the timing and speed of snowmelt, and the runoff timing in Manitoba, the U.S., Saskatchewan and Ontario are still “key factors,” the provincial government said Monday in […] Read more
Major flood risks seen in southern Manitoba
Saskatchewan snowpack points to below-normal runoff
Reading Time: 2 minutes Thanks to above-normal temperatures that drew down much of Saskatchewan’s snowpack in January, the province now sees “below normal runoff potential” in most areas outside the southeast. Saskatchewan’s Water Security Agency on Thursday released its 2017 preliminary outlook for spring runoff, noting the province has another six to 10 weeks of possible snowpack development. The […] Read more
Smithfield sees pork operations back to normal Monday
Reading Time: 2 minutes Wilmington, N.C. | Reuters — Smithfield Foods expects to resume full production on Monday at its North Carolina meat operations, including the world’s largest pork plant, more than a week after Hurricane Matthew struck the U.S. Southeast and triggered widespread flooding in the state. Operations will get back to normal at Smithfield’s four North Carolina […] Read more
Millions of chickens reported dead in Hurricane Matthew floods
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Flooding from Hurricane Matthew has killed up to five million poultry birds in North Carolina, most of them chickens, the state’s top environmental official said Wednesday. Donald van der Vaart, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, also told Reuters that some pits that hold hog waste on farms […] Read more
Floods cause deaths, block food aid in drought-hit Ethiopia
Reading Time: 2 minutes Nairobi | Thomson Reuters Foundation — Flash floods in drought-stricken parts of Ethiopia have killed people and livestock and are blocking food aid deliveries to hungry communities, a charity said. Ethiopians have been waiting for the spring rains to replenish water sources and to plant crops after the most severe drought in decades pushed more […] Read more
Argentina declares flood emergency in six key farm provinces
Reading Time: < 1 minute Buenos Aires | Reuters — Six of Argentina’s main farm provinces were declared flood emergency areas by the government on Friday, making special credit lines and tax breaks available to affected growers in the soy- and corn-exporting powerhouse. The resolution, announced in the government’s morning gazette, covers the provinces of Cordoba, Santa Fe, Entre Rios, […] Read more
Ardent’s Illinois flour mills reopened
Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters –– Ardent Mills, the largest U.S. flour miller, said operations resumed on Thursday at its mill at Chester, Illinois, that had been closed since Dec. 29 due to near-record flooding on the Mississippi River. Mill staff “have gone ‘above and beyond’ to conduct extensive cleaning and sanitizing to return the mill back […] Read more
Barge accidents rise on flood-swollen Mississippi River
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters –– The U.S. Coast Guard temporarily halted shipping traffic on the Mississippi River in New Orleans on Friday after a tow boat struck stationary barges in a fleeting area, marking at least the fifth barge accident this week on the flood-swollen river. High water has severely restricted barge shipping traffic on the […] Read more
U.S. grain prices soar as floods shut waterways, threaten crops
Reading Time: 3 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. grain farmers scrambled to find shelter for their crops and handlers hunted for alternative transportation routes, as widespread floods shut waterways from Illinois to Missouri and spurred a surge in physical prices of corn and soybeans. The sudden jump in prices could complicate a months-long stand-off between farmers who are […] Read more
Flooding in U.S. Midwest threatens winter wheat
Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — Heavy weekend storms caused flooding in parts of the southern U.S. Midwest, threatening the region’s soft red winter wheat, crop experts said on Monday. A swath of eastern Texas, Arkansas, Missouri and southern Illinois received 7.5 to 18 cm of rain with localized totals of up to 25 cm, MDA Weather […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
