Texas gets drought relief from heavy rains

DALLAS, Texas (Reuters) -- Waves of fat storm clouds dumped enough rain on much of Texas over the weekend to catch up to near normal rainfall levels after a summer of drought, weather forecasters and state officials said Monday.

But despite more rain in the forecast, officials cautioned it is still too early to claim victory over the effects of three years of drought that have blistered Texas farms and ranches and drained ground water reserves.

"Do we call this a drought-buster? Let's say for now it's a drought-bender," said Beverly Boyd, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Agriculture.

Thunderstorms repeatedly crossed the state in waves that started Friday and peaked Sunday, claiming at least six lives in traffic accidents around the state.

At least one tornado reportedly touched down in Montgomery County near Houston, but no injuries were reported, state police said.

More than 3 inches of rain fell in 24 hours in parts of north Texas, bringing the region around Dallas near the 30 inches normally expected by this time of year.

That compared to late September, when an 84-day dry streak with temperatures over 100 degrees left the area more than 4 inches below average rainfall levels, said meteorologist Larry Nierenburg with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.

The rain started to come down in significant quantities around October 20 and has kept up every few days since then in much of Texas.

"But 1998 and 1999 were very dry. So even if this year's rainfall total ends up normal or a little above, we still have a long way to go" to restore ground water levels, Nierenburg said.

"We've got a ways to go before we can declare the drought over," he said.

This year's drought has cost Texas farmers and ranchers about $1.1 billion in lost cotton, wheat, corn and grain sorghum, and in extra costs for irrigation and livestock feed, according to the state agriculture department.

The autumn rains have come too late to save those crops.

But winter wheat seeded in the past month may benefit, especially since most of the rain since late October has come in gradual showers that soak the ground rather than downbursts that create run-off.

"It's greening up. Farmers call this million-dollar rain," Boyd said.

The sharp downbursts over the weekend were also helpful because they filled streams and water holes for livestock, she added.

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