(Bloomberg) — Washington Governor Jay Inslee on Friday declared a drought emergency, citing historically low snowpack and dwindling rivers.

The arid conditions are threatening crops and fish and could cause more wildfires as snow drops to 16% of normal levels and 78% of streams run below average, according to a statement from Inslee's office.

“We're really starting to feel the pain,” Inslee, a 64-year-old Democrat, said in the statement. “Impacts are already severe in several areas of the state.”

Recommended For You

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.