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Highlands Today

Rain Is Great, But It's Barely Making A Dent In Drought

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Highlands Today staff

Published: July 3, 2008

Just like a little success or winning makes a lot of problems go away, the same holds true when the rains finally come to a drought-stricken area.

Highlands County has received a regular drenching every late afternoon of late and the difference is obvious by watching shorelines recede from area lakes. It's a wonderful sight to see, but we're a long way from being where we need to be.

A few years of drought have left some boats and docks high and dry, lawn watering restrictions and more beach than we've seen in years. Now we're in the rainy season, and it hasn't disappointed us yet.

If you want someone to rain on your parade — pardon the pun — talk to anyone from one of the water management districts. They will tell you we still are in a drought, and that this rain, although beneficial, doesn't come close to making water levels anywhere near normal. They're right, of course.

It will take a lot more rain than what we've been getting to fill the big lakes around our county. Lake Jackson in Sebring is looking better, and the Sebring City Council is considering holding off filling a dredge hole near City Pier Beach in hopes the water level will go up.

The bad news is that it's hard to make headway on a drought when we're getting the weather that's expected this time of year. That means we need tropical storms to dump a lot of water that normally wouldn't come this way to put a dent in it. Yes, a hurricane usually brings a lot of rain, but we'll pass on that, thank you very much. Been there, done that.

Let's hope the daily rains continue, along with a good drenching extra rain or two, until we can get back near normal. What we don't need is damaging weather that ruins homes and property.

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