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Counties Along Green River, Lake Cumberland Especially Hard Hit by Drought

What a difference a year makes. Last year was the wettest on record across Kentucky going back to 1895. Many areas of the commonwealth that experienced widespread flooding last year are now in drought.

Extremely hard hit by the drought are several western counties along the Green River, like Union.

In April and May of 2011, Union County received nearly 23 inches of rainfall. This year, the number is down to three inches.

Henderson and Ohio counties have received one-fifth the precipitation this year compared to 2011.

In southern Kentucky, Cumberland county has received barely a quarter of the rainfall it got last year.

In addition to threatening agriculture in the affected areas, if drought continues to spread into the summer months, some communities could see problems with municipal water supplies. At that point, residential and commercial customers could be asked to cut back on water usage.

Kevin is the News Director at WKU Public Radio. He has been with the station since 1999, and was previously the Assistant News Director, and also served as local host of Morning Edition.