Drought-Plagued Midwest Wilts Under Searing Heat

CHICAGO —  Heat blistered much of the nation Tuesday, breaking temperature records on the first day of summer and baking the drought-parched Midwest where crops withered in dusty fields.

In seared farm fields dotted with thirsty, stunted plants, the unprecedented heat joined with one of the driest springs of the century to move the nation closer to a major natural disaster.

An estimated 10% of the nation’s 1988 corn crop already has been lost, the American Farm Bureau Federation reported. “If there is no rain we could lose 25% within a week,” said bureau spokesman Bill Eckmann.

Forty cities from Bismarck in North Dakota to Baltimore on the East Coast recorded record highs Tuesday, in most cases 100 degrees or more. Roads buckled in the Midwest, fish kills were reported in Illinois streams and lakes and utilities set records for the use of electricity.

Drought forced a temporary halt to barge traffic on the Mississippi River, the nation’s most important water highway, for the second time in a week. An Army Corps of Engineers dredge worked to deepen the channel at Memphis, Tenn., and persistent low water levels threatened to cripple barge traffic on many of the nation’s other inland waterways.

“The (Mississippi) river’s going to outrun dredge capability and we don’t know when that’s going to occur,” Coast Guard Cmdr. Mike Donohoe told Mississippi and Ohio river towboat operators. “Mother Nature’s going to do that to us. We’re doing everything we can to keep the river flowing.”

“The worst-case scenario is that we normally have these conditions in late August,” said Corps Maj. Gen. Thomas A. Sands in Washington. “So we have the problem two months in advance. If nothing happens, you have a worsening situation.”

On the Missouri River, another vital waterway, low water levels have narrowed navigation channels, forcing shippers to push fewer, lighter barges with each load. The Corps of Engineers is now studying the possibility of closing that river to navigation at least two weeks earlier than usual in November.

Railroad Car, Truck Shortage

If the rivers are shut down or if traffic is sharply curtailed, it is unlikely that there are enough trucks and railroad cars to take up the slack. One barge holds enough cargo to fill about 15 railroad cars or 60 semi-trailer trucks. A normal 40-barge Mississippi River tow carries enough grain to fill 600 railroad cars, according to the American Waterways Operators.

There are similar problems on the Great Lakes, where 20% of the world’s fresh water is stored. Giant 1,000-foot-long freighters--now in the midst of their busiest season since 1981--are being forced to lighten their loads of iron ore, coal and cement because of shallow channels and harbors.

“It’s happening when our customers need every pound of cargo they can get,” said Glenn Nekvasil, spokesman for the Lakes Carriers Assn.

More Fish Dying

In Illinois, where temperatures edged above 100 degrees for the second consecutive day, the heat combined with drought was blamed for a sharp increase in fish dying in rivers, lakes and farm ponds--the first widespread reports of fish kills in the Midwest this year.

“We have this stuff just coming in left and right,” said James Langbein, a state regional fisheries biologist. “It is probably environmental stress brought about by drought conditions, high water temperatures and probably low dissolved oxygen levels.”

Warm water holds less oxygen than colder water.

In Washington, agriculture committees in both the House and Senate spent much of Tuesday drafting legislation to help farmers survive the loss of income that could come if much or all of their crops eventually are lost.

Such programs could be costly but the federal government may save hundreds of millions of dollars appropriated for farm subsidies this year because of soaring commodity prices that will send harvests to the market rather than to government warehouses.

A variety of proposals were being considered but by late Tuesday no firm package had been fashioned.

Heat Expected to Continue

Weather forecasters said that the extraordinary heat wave probably would hang on for at least another day, keeping much of the nation sweating in 90- to 100-degree temperatures.

For the second consecutive day temperatures in Chicago went over the 100-degree mark. Monday’s 104 was just one degree shy of the city’s all-time high of 105. Tuesday it reached 101. The temperature also hit 101 in Milwaukee, 101 in Baltimore, 103 in Bismarck, and 98 in Washington, tying a record set in 1933.

In South Dakota, 25 highways have buckled so far this week because of the heat, about what the state experiences in an entire year when weather is normal. In Chicago the heat turned the city’s fleet of subway cars and buses into ovens as air-conditioning units failed under the pressure of constant use. The heat also buckled elevated train rails, slowing travel for tens of thousands of rush-hour commuters.

While a cool front is expected to move across parts of the nation’s midsection late today, early forecasts are that it will trigger only scattered thunderstorms, not the kind of rain needed to break the drought.

Larry Green reported from Chicago and Paul Houston from Washington. Researcher Ruth Lopez contributed from Chicago.