1.   Wheat surged as blistering heat swept across the southern Plains, worsening damage to the crop from one of the most severe droughts on record.

2.   Wheat futures surged as blistering heat swept across the southern Plains, worsening damage to the crop from one of the most severe droughts on record.

3.   Aftershocks worsened the damage to the exterior, a peaked wall called a tympanum.

4.   Aftershocks worsened the damage.

5.   Damage often is worsened by excessive farming and tree-cutting that leave stripped hillsides unable to trap rainfall.

6.   Further rate increases will only worsen the damage, she said.

7.   The lawyer said the ethnic nature of the confrontation worsens the damage.