Johnson, Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties now under drought emergency

A drought emergency was declared in 22 additional counties in Kansas on Tuesday, including Johnson, Wyandotte, Leavenworth, Miami and Douglas.

A total of 72 counties — virtually the entire eastern half of the state — are now under a drought emergency.

The city of Gardner has issued water-use restrictions.

“Counties in emergency stage are eligible for emergency use of water from certain state fishing lakes,” according to an announcement from the Drought Response Team in Gov. Jeff Colyer’s office. “They also become eligible for water in some federal reservoirs.”

Individuals and communities need to file a request with the Kansas Water Office before withdrawing water from lakes.

All 105 Kansas counties are either in a drought emergency or under a watch or warning. The situation has improved, however, throughout the western half of the state.

Though the forecast this week calls for more rain, the National Weather Weather Service in Kansas City tweeted on Aug. 12: “On track to see a decent amount of rain across the area this week. ... It’s unlikely to break the drought, but it should certainly help.”

As for Missouri, the National Integrated Drought Information System said that as of the last update on Aug. 7, much of northern and northwestern parts of the state and parts of southwestern Missouri were in extreme drought. That includes Clay and Ray counties.

Parts of Caldwell County, north of Ray County, were in extraordinary drought.

More than 5.5 million people in Missouri — about 93 percent of the population — were experiencing abnormal dryness or drought. The only areas in Missouri not experiencing drought were south of St. Louis.

This story was originally published August 14, 2018 at 5:32 PM.