From staff and wire reports

Twenty one cars from an auto salvage company burned Monday just outside the Athens city limits and firefighters say drought is the reason for it.”We don’t know how it started, but any little thing could have set it off,” said Athens Fire Chief Cliff Christopher. “They had a worker out there weed eating at the time. We don’t know if it started from that.”The fire at Athens Auto Recyling on U.S. 72 West was actually in the county, but Christopher said county firefighters were so busy Monday fighting brush fires, the city was asked to send firefighters to the scene.A 50 percent chance of rain is predicted for today and could help, but not all areas are expected to get moisture.The drought is beginning to take its toll not only in Limestone, but other counties of northern Alabama as well.This summer wasn’t just hot. It was a disaster for some farmers, including farmers in Limestone County.

Growers and agriculture officials say the combination of oppressive heat and weeks of arid weather will combine to produce crop yields that are expected to be among the lowest in more than 25 years.

With rainfall that’s less than half the average in northeast Alabama, some crops aren’t even worth harvesting.

“It’s killed us,” said Don Rochester, who farms about 1,300 acres in Cherokee and Etowah counties.

David Derrick, the Alabama Cooperative Extension agent for row crops for nine northeast Alabama counties, said yields are less than half of normal for crops including soybeans, cotton and corn.

Farmers can get insurance to cover crop losses, but most farmers don’t get more than 65 percent coverage of their usual yield because of insurance costs.

Forecasters say there is a chance of rain this week for much of the state, but it’s probably too late for crops that have baked all summer without much precipitation.

Derrick said all crops have been affected by the weather, and yields could be as bad as the drought year of 1980.

“It’s been a poor year,” Derrick said. “It’s pretty much a disaster.”

Derrick said some corn fields are not worth harvesting, while others may have yields of as much as 90 bushels an acre depending on rainfall. Last year, Cherokee County’s average yield for corn led the area at 135 bushels an acre.

George Pounds, president for the DeKalb County Cattlemens Association, said he received notification this week that $1 million in disaster relief assistance will be made available to cattlemen affected by the drought in 31 of Alabama’s 67 counties.