Cold
Imperils Florida's Fish, Fruit and Veggies
Here's something you don't
often see in this town at the heart of the state's $9 billion
citrus industry: a sign at the public library that says, "ICE!
On sidewalk. Be careful!"
Growers were scrambling
Monday to assess damage and pick as many oranges as possible
from thousands of acres of citrus groves. Trucks filled with
fruit rumbled through the center of town all day as their drivers
rushed them to juice plants.
Freezing temperatures that
swept in on an Arctic front from Canada have been plaguing the
state for a week, with several areas approaching or breaking
records on Monday.
The cold is extremely tough
on the state's fruit and vegetable growers, with crops such
as citrus trees and sugar cane suffering damage when exposed
to temperatures below 28 degrees for more than 4 hours. It was
below 28 degrees more than 8 hours overnight in the agriculture-dominated
area around Lake Okeechobee.
"Temperatures have
been ridiculous cold for South Florida," said Eric Hopkins,
vice president of Hundley Farms Inc. in Belle Glade on the lake's
southern edge. He estimated his farm would lose about $750,000
in green beans and sweet corn because of the cold.
"We survived a couple
of the nights, but this weekend sort of finished us off as far
as the sweet corn and green beans go," he added.
Overall crop damage tallies
won't be available for days or weeks, agricultural officials
said. But the state Department of Agriculture said there has
been "significant crop damage" throughout the state,
from tropical fish farms near Tampa to the ferns grown in Volusia
for filler in Valentine's Day bouquets. Strawberries were also
affected.
The state's largest citrus
grower's group has been receiving reports of frozen fruit and
damage to trees' leaves and branches, but it's not clear yet
if those trees have suffered long-term damage. Frozen fruit
must be rushed to a processing plant, or the flavor could be
ruined.
Complicating efforts to
assess the damage is "the sheer number of cold days we
had in a row. I can't remember anything like it," said
Michael W. Sparks, executive vice president and CEO of Florida
Citrus Mutual.
The state's last "impact
freeze" — a freeze so severe that it annihilates
entire citrus groves around the state, causing tens of millions
of dollars in damage — happened in 1989. It was only the
fifth since 1835. It will take at least a month to determine
whether this year's cold snap will be classified as another,
Citrus Mutual spokesman Andrew Meadows said.
U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow,
said damage to other fruits and veggies varied throughout the
state. Tropical fish, fern and kumquat farmers were hit especially
hard, as were certain tomato, cucumber, eggplant and bean crops
in the southern part of the state.
Putnam said he is asking
the USDA to quickly finish a crop damage assessment so the federal
government can expedite a disaster declaration, which would
help farmers.
"It's my view that there will be substantial losses,"
he said.
Landscape nurseries also suffered the ill-effects of the cold
sweep. Turner Tree and Landscape of Bradenton estimated that
it lost a quarter million trees worth $900,000.
The cold approached or surpassed
records around the state Monday. The National Weather Service
reported 36 degrees at the Miami airport, beating an 82-year-old
record of 37 degrees. It dipped to 42 degrees in Key West, one
degree off the record and the second-coldest reading since 1873.
Record-tying lows of 29
were observed in Orlando, and Tampa's 25-degree weather beat
its old record of 27. South Florida is usually around 68 degrees
this time of year.
By midmorning, Florida Power and Light had about 14,000 homes
without power and 1,300 restoration workers in the field.
FPL spokesman Mark Bubriski
said Sunday and Monday set successive records for consumer electricity
demand. Tampa Electric customers also set a new, all-time peak-demand
record for electricity usage on Monday morning.
Homeowners in north Florida
and the Panhandle also were dealing with an unfamiliar problem:
frozen pipes. It was 14 degrees Monday morning in Tallahassee,
breaking the record of 15 set in 1982.
Barry Atkinson, the owner
of Destin Plumbing in Destin, said he can't keep up with emergency
calls from the restaurants, condominiums and other businesses.
Area plumbing suppliers have sold out of many of the parts needed
to repair the broken pipes.
Atkinson said pipes on outdoor
walls in many Panhandle homes are not insulated because of the
warm climate.
"It's the exposed pipes
under homes or outside that freeze quickly," he said.
Associated Press writers
Travis Reed in Miami, Brian Skoloff in West Palm Beach and Melissa
Nelson in Pensacola contributed to this report.
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