Final answer:
The most severely affected areas of the Great Plains by the Dust Bowl were in the Southern Great Plains, encompassing Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota, where intense dust storms devastated the agricultural landscape.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Dust Bowl was an ecological catastrophe that particularly affected the Southern Great Plains during the mid-1930s, devastating areas from Texas to the Dakotas. This region saw some of the most severe impacts of the Dust Bowl, exacerbated by a combination of prolonged drought, poor agricultural practices, and soil erosion. Towns and cities like Stratford, Texas, and others across Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota faced intense dust storms that removed vital topsoil and devastated farmlands, leading to an exodus of families from the area.
The devastation was furthered by the implementation of dry farming techniques and the removal of native prairie grasses to plant wheat, leaving the land bare and more susceptible to erosion. This, alongside overgrazing by cattle, led to massive dust storms that carried soil as far as the Atlantic Ocean and caused significant agricultural and economic fallout. The disaster affected all segments of society, including both farmers and professionals, ultimately transforming the socio-economic landscape of the region.