(Photo: Sarah Coffey / NBC News)
The United States is currently in the throes of the worst drought in more than 50 years. Special coverage begins Wednesday across the networks of #NBCNews.
See some of the images and stories we have begun collecting from viewers and readers showing how the drought is affecting them.
(Photo: AFP)
Though severe drought conditions have raised the cost of food this summer, consumers may have seen the worst of the price impact at the grocery store.
Higher food prices helped lift the closely watched Producer Price Index by 0.3 percent in July, the fastest pace in five months. At the same time retail sales rose 0.8 percent, the first increase in four months and well ahead of expectations, signaling that the sluggish economy may be picking up momentum.
(Photo: KING TV)
Wildfires raged in several Western states on Tuesday, destroying dozens of homes and threatening hundreds more. In Idaho, one firefighter was killed by a falling tree.
A fire in central Washington grew nearly tenfold overnight and destroyed more than 60 homes, NBC affiliate KING of Seattle reported.
(Photo: Sarah Coffey / NBC News)
The US is currently in the throes of the worst drought in more than 50 years. Special coverage begins Wednesday across the networks of NBC News. Show us how you've been affected by sharing photos on Instagram or Tumblr with the tag #Drought2012.
(Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA)
President Barack Obama announced emergency measures Monday to ease the impact of the worst drought in half a century, but stopped short of waiving the government’s requirement that a large portion of the now-shriveled corn crop be diverted to make ethanol.
Obama announced that the Department of Agriculture will buy up to $170 million of pork, lamb, chicken and catfish to help support farmers suffering from the drought. The food purchases will go toward "food nutrition assistance" programs, like food banks.
