(OPINION) If you think that what we are witnessing is “normal”, I honestly don’t know what to say. Over the past few years, the United States has been getting pummeled by one major natural disaster after another.
The number of billion-dollar natural disasters in 2023 established a new record high for a single year, and 2024 is certainly off to a roaring start. It seems like each new week brings multiple new disasters, and right now we are watching a couple of whoppers.
The blizzard that has started to hammer the state of California is so immense that it is difficult to believe that it is actually real, and the Stonehouse Creek Fire in the panhandle of Texas has officially become the largest fire in the entire history of that state…
The Smokehouse Creek Fire is officially the largest and most devastating fire in Texas’ history – with the killer inferno burning through over 1.1 million acres of land.
As of Thursday, the record-breaking wildfire has scorched through 1,075,000 acres and is three percent contained, with thousands of people evacuating their homes.
Ghastly winds coupled with the raging flames have charred huge swathes of the Panhandle – and the wildfire is now the equivalent size of the whole of Rhode Island. This fire has already burned more than a million acres, but it still only 3 percent contained.
How is that even possible? According to CBS News, throughout the region “lampposts are now melted, power line posts are split in half and homes and properties have been reduced to charred remains”.
It is already the second-largest fire in the entire history of our country, and even if the fire was put out now the recovery would take many years because there has been so much devastation.
The Turkey Track Ranch is one of the oldest and most historic ranches in the state of Texas, and it has been almost completely obliterated…
The fire also destroyed most of the historic $180 million Turkey Track Ranch, which was home to “one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the Great Plains” near the end of the Civil War, and the site of the Red River War that started in 1874.
The property, one of the oldest ranches in the state that covers roughly 80,000 acres, has seen an estimated 80% of its pastures, plains and creek bottom burned in the fire, CBS affiliate KHOU-TV reports.
“The loss of livestock, crops and wildlife, as well as ranch fencing and other infrastructure throughout our property as well as other ranches and homes across the region is, we believe, unparalleled in our history,” the owners said in a statement. “…We are all completely devastated and personally heartbroken by the magnitude of this horrific event.”
I cannot even comprehend what the owners are going through right now.Just try to imagine what it must be like to have your life’s work burned to the ground in a single day. And this fire is going to have a huge impact on all the rest of us too.
85 percent of the cattle in the state of Texas are in the panhandle. Video footage of cattle that have been burned to death is being shared all over social media, and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is estimating that “tens of thousands” have already been killed…
Reuters spoke with state Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who warned the wildfire has likely killed tens of thousands of livestock and destroyed grain in storage bins. “It’s almost like gasoline when it goes up,” Miller said, adding, “We have now lost over a million acres. (READ MORE)
