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Highlands Today

Rains Shore Up Lake Levels

Jasmina Meyer/Highlands Today

An incoming storm causes white caps on Lake Jackson Tuesday in Sebring.

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By Douglas  Carman | Highlands Today

Published: July 6, 2008

SEBRING –– As far as rainfall goes, the last two weeks were rather wet for Avon Park and downright soggy for Lake Placid.

So soggy, in fact, that Highlands County Lakes Association Secretary John Ruggiero said he saw the lake, Lake Placid, rise about 10 inches from two weeks ago, which is about what the Archbold Biological Station's rain gauge recorded for that time period, according to the National Weather Service.

"If we could even get 5 or 6 (inches) a week, that would be a wonderful thing for the lakes in our county," Ruggiero said.

For those who long for the days when they could put a boat out on Lake Jackson, "this is just a spit in the bucket," association vice president Dave McCadam said.

He added that the rain patterns over the past two weeks were not that far from normal for the northern part of the county.

"I'm not going to use the H-word, but it's going to take a couple of tropical depressions," he said. "This is just a start."

According to the National Weather Service, the Archbold Biological Station near Lake Placid picked up 9.8 inches of rain from June 22 through July 3, the latest day where data was available Sunday.

Avon Park had 5.58 inches for the same period and 7.69 inches through Sunday morning. There are no official gauges in the Sebring area for the National Weather Service.

The City of Charm didn't get what Lake Placid got, but they're actually better off, meteorologist Anthony Reynes suggested Sunday.

That's because most of the rain the Lake Placid area received came in short events. The station reported 3.03 inches Thursday morning and more than 2 inches June 23 and June 27, for instance. That would lead to short-term street flooding, no matter how dry the neighborhood lawns might be.

Avon Park's rainfall has been more constant, as the city's wettest day, June 27, brought only 1.93 inches.

"If you don't have more rain subsequent days, you can have 5, 6 or 7 inches... or a couple of big storms in one day, but it's really not going to help," Reynes said.

The "urban flooding" Reynes warned about hasn't happened in the Toni Circle area in Venus. County engineers raised Old State Road 8, which had been inundated several times the past few years.

Winton Gross, who lived right on the intersection between Old State Road 8 and Toni Drive, saw his vegetable garden wash up in one of the floods in the recent past and had to give up his cows in another.

"We haven't had no trouble since February (2007)," he said as he mowed his yard during an overcast Sunday afternoon. He was hearing some thunder just few minutes earlier. "It's got to get 40-50 inches of rain before I start to worry."

McCadam was hoping for that 40 extra inches eventually, since that's what he thought was needed to bring Lake Jackson back to its 2006 levels.

Lucas Pernas, who also lives near circle, said he actually welcomed the rain during the drought, even as he recalled the street's flooding years ago.

"I hope it stays like this all year round," he said.

Reporter Doug Carman can be reached at 386-5838 or dcarman@highlandstoday.com

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