Fay improves drought situation

By Katie Stallcup

Published: August 28, 2008

Tropical Storm Fay’s rains brought much-needed relief to eastern Alabama, bringing the area almost out of drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Fay dropped anywhere from 5.41 to 6.67 inches of rain in Lee County from Aug. 23 to Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service’s Web site (http://www.srh.noaa.gov).

Lee County has dropped down to the lowest drought rating, “abnormally dry,” according to the drought monitor (drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html).

“It’s definitely good news,” said Roger McNeil, hydrologist with the National Weather Service office in Birmingham. “The way things are looking now, if we maintain a normal pattern of rainfall, things should improve over the southeast states, including Alabama.”

The area still needs to replenish deeper groundwater, he said, the storm’s rain was a very good start.

“After that heavy rainfall, it’s not going to take as much as it would before this (storm) to bring us back to normal,” he said.

Opelika Utilities General Manager Dan Hilyer said Fay’s rains helped fill the local reservoirs.

“Saugahatchee Lake was down probably 12 inches prior to the rain,” he said. “It’s full now, so it did fill it up. And it’s cut demand quite a bit. People aren’t watering their grass.”

Even though Tropical Storm Gustav is bearing down on the Gulf of Mexico, the area doesn’t need that kind of rain, McNeil said.

“If we were to get another storm following on the heels of Fay dumping heavy rainfall, we could have more problems with flooding,” he said. “But we could definitely use periodic rainfall.”