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Services, 1997). Symptoms vary among tomato types, <br />but in general leaves produced shortly after infection <br />are reduced in size, distorted, cupped inward or <br />downward, and have a yellow mottle. Less than one in <br />10 flowers will produce fruit after TYLCV infection, <br />severely reducing yields. <br />The virus is transmitted by adult silverleaf whiteflies. <br />Although frequent applications of pesticides help to <br />decrease whitefly populations and suppress the spread <br />of TYLCV, virus management through whitefly control is <br />not possible in years where whitefly populations are <br />high. Fortunately, the virus is not transmitted through <br />seed or casual contact with infected plants. <br />Drought <br />Drought is a normal, recurrent feature of climate, although <br />many perceive it as a rare and random event. In fact, each <br />year some part of the U.S. has severe or extreme drought. <br />Although it has many definitions, drought originates from a <br />deficiency of precipitation over an extended period of time, <br />usually a season or more (National Drought Mitigation Center, <br />1998). It produces a complex web of impacts that spans many <br />sectors of the economy and reaches well beyond the area <br />producing physical drought. This complexity exists because <br />water is essential to our ability to produce goods and provide <br />services (National Drought Mitigation Center, 1998). <br />A few examples of direct impacts of drought are reduced crop, <br />rangeland, and forest productivity; increased fire hazard; <br />reduced water levels; increased livestock and wildlife mortality <br />rates; and damage to wildlife and fish habitat. Social impacts <br />include public safety, health, conflicts between water users, <br />reduced quality of life, and inequities in the distribution of <br />impacts and disaster relief. Income loss is another indicator <br />used in assessing the impacts of drought; reduced income for <br />farmers has a ripple effect throughout the region's economy <br />(National Drought Mitigation Center, 1998). <br />The web of impacts is so diffuse that it is very difficult to come <br />up with financial estimates of damages. However, the Federal <br />Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimates $6-$8 <br />billion in losses as the annual average (Federal Emergency <br />Indian River County Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan Basic Page 23 <br />