Fla. Growers Fight Record Cold

State of emergency as temperatures plummet
By Colleen Barry,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 3, 2008 8:31 AM CST
Fla. Growers Fight Record Cold
Hans Katros, owner of Katros Groves, checks the irrigation system on a pumello citrus tree on his grove in Haines City, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008. Florida citrus growers are preparing for freezing temperatures across the region. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)   (Associated Press)

Florida shivered last night  last night as a cold snap set new lows—35 degrees in Ft. Lauderdale—and threatened serious damage to crops. Farmers spent the night in the fields, spraying strawberries and oranges with water to create a protective glaze of ice. In  Plant City, dubbed the winter strawberry capital of the world, temperatures hit freezing at midnight, and dropped to 28 by 2:30am.

Meanwhile, local homeless shelters struggled to prepare to house hundreds of people beyond their normal capacity, and the governor has declared a state of emergency. Temperatures should return to the 60s and 70s later today. (More Florida stories.)

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