County declares drought emergency

By Terry Murry on Tuesday, April 20th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

PENDLETON – The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners declared a drought emergency at its meeting today (Tuesday). Chairman George Murdock said drought conditions do not exist county-wide, but do cause concern.

“Umatilla County has a good bit of diverse geography,” he said. “There probably are some parts of the county that are not experiencing a drought, but a number that are and a number that fall within the severe drought category.”

Murdock said that neighboring Union County made a similar declaration recently.

“I do know that a number of our farmers right now are having serious concerns about the lack of rainfall,” Murdock said.

The emergency declaration will be forwarded to Gov. Kate Brown’s office.

Map: White = no drought, yellow = abnormally dry, tan = moderate drought, orange = severe drought, red = extreme drought.