Word: drought
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...sandlot, and at the London zoo, bath water for the elephants is being reused to water plants. Hundreds of grass and scrub fires are erupting in the parched countryside as Britain, which has had exactly one-tenth of an inch of rain this month, suffers through the worst drought since meteorological records were started in 1727. Last week Prime Minister James Callaghan summoned vacationing Cabinet members back to No. 10 Downing Street for an emergency meeting and asked Sports Minister Denis Howell to assume responsibility for conserving what remains of the country's dwindling water supplies. Howell immediately asked...
Brush Fires. The problem goes well beyond wilted flowers. In South Wales, where the drought is especially severe, firemen and soldiers were battling forest and heath fires around the clock last week. In Haverfordwest, a geriatrics hospital had to be evacuated when a brush fire spread to the hospital's roof. More than 100 miles to the east in Surrey, a mother and her four children were nearly burned to death when flames from a roadside grass fire engulfed their car. "Wales is a tinderbox," says Roy Orringe, deputy fire chief for Monmouthshire County. "My boys are stretched...
...Under a "drought bill" that grants regional authorities the power to ban nonessential uses of water, Welshmen have been forbidden to water lawns, wash cars or fill swimming pools. Anyone caught hosing his garden is subject to an $800 fine. Beginning last week, more than a million Welsh residents are getting water only between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m., and this week some factories will go on compulsory half-rations. "There are no baths, and clothes don't get washed so often," says Cardiff Housewife Elizabeth Davies. "I used to use the washing machine every...
Forced Layoffs. The drought, which afflicts much of Europe, also threatens to undermine the government's year-old program to rebuild Britain's battered economy. Summer grain and food crops are suffering, and food prices are certain to rise. Worse, the drought could force large segments of British industry into layoffs or shortened work weeks. British Leyland, for instance, fears the loss of as many as 1,000 jobs at a parts plant outside the Welsh capital of Cardiff. With unemployment at a postwar record of 1.5 million (6.4%), any further increase could jeopardize the government...
Ironically, Poland is traditionally an exporter of beet sugar, but this summer's drought severely cut production, and the shortage has been aggravated by hoarding. One farsighted Warsaw housewife recently managed to stockpile 1.5 tons of sugar for herself. In addition, the Soviets last spring tripled their purchases of Polish sugar (to 151,000 tons). When Gierek asked permission to make smaller or later deliveries, Moscow refused...