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Drought conditions in GA.

Smitty500magSmitty500mag Member Posts: 13,623 ✭✭✭✭
edited October 2016 in General Discussion
We've not had anything more than a few sprinkle showers since back in the summer here this year where I live in Hampton, GA. They're fighting fires in North GA at this time according to the evening news yesterday.

Lake Allatoona below is really low which is just North of Atlanta.

Drought2007_041615_zpse4eg9yhd.jpg



Our yard has turned mostly brown and there are bare spots where the grass has died and it's so dry it crunches when you walk on it. The ground has cracked open in many places. If it were to catch fire it would probably burn like gasoline was poured on it.

DSCN2723_zpsrskrmjeb.jpg

Comments

  • CoolhandLukeCoolhandLuke Member Posts: 7,826 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Great photo it speaks a thousand words, you fellows need to hire a rain dancer.
    We have to fight so we can run away.
    Capt. Jack Sparrow.
  • Smitty500magSmitty500mag Member Posts: 13,623 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by CoolhandLuke
    Great photo it speaks a thousand words, you fellows need to hire a rain dancer.


    Did you ever hear of Charles Hatfield a rain maker that was hired by the San Diego city council to make rain? After they were flooded they refused to pay him the $10,000 that they owed him.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hatfield

    "In 1915 the San Diego city council, pressured by the San Diego Wide Awake Improvement Club, approached Hatfield to produce rain to fill the Morena Dam reservoir. Hatfield offered to produce rain for free, then charge $1,000 per inch ($393.7 per centimetre) for between forty and fifty inches (1.02 to 1.27 m) and free again over fifty inches (1.27 m). The council voted four to one for a $10,000 fee, payable when the reservoir was filled. A formal agreement was never drawn up, though Hatfield continued based on verbal understanding. Hatfield, with his brother, built a tower beside Lake Morena and was ready early in the New Year.[2]:91
    On January 5, 1916 heavy rain began - and grew gradually heavier day by day. Dry riverbeds filled to the point of flooding. Worsening floods destroyed bridges, marooned trains and cut phone cables - not to mention flooding homes and farms. Two dams, Sweetwater Dam and one at Lower Otay Lake, overflowed.[4] Rain stopped January 20 but resumed two days later. On January 27 Lower Otay Dam broke, increasing the devastation and reportedly causing about 20 deaths (accounts vary on the exact number).[citation needed]
    Hatfield talked to the press on February 4 and said that the damage was not his fault and that the city should have taken adequate precautions. Hatfield had fulfilled the requirements of his contract - filling the reservoir - but the city council refused to pay the money unless Hatfield would accept liability for damages; there were already claims worth $3.5 million. Besides, there was no written contract. Hatfield tried to settle for $4000 and then sued the council.[citation needed] In two trials, the rain was ruled an act of God but Hatfield continued the suit until 1938 when two courts decided that the rain was an act of God, which absolved him of any wrongdoing, but also meant he did not get his fee."
  • Ditch-RunnerDitch-Runner Member Posts: 25,371 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My now deceased BIL lived in Georgia I would guess 30 years ? there was a big drought he lived around lake laneir (sp ) it looked like a pond at that time old road beads house foundations
    best wishes on getting some rain
  • droptopdroptop Member Posts: 8,363 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    The yard looks better than 1/2 of my yard. Wasn't drought,, chickens.

    Honesty, looking at the photo you'd never know there was a problem
  • Smitty500magSmitty500mag Member Posts: 13,623 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by droptop
    The yard looks better than 1/2 of my yard. Wasn't drought,, chickens.

    Honesty, looking at the photo you'd never know there was a problem



    Our yard is usually green but it's brown now. I guess the photo makes it look better than it actually is. We've got bare spots all around the house. It'll probably be a mud hole when it starts raining next spring.
  • CaptFunCaptFun Member Posts: 16,678 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    That photo is from 2007 (and not far from my house). My yard backs up to the COE easement around the lake, I can walk down to the water in about 10 minutes. That year it almost got down to the dead pool and my end of the lake was BONE dry just like that picture.

    Full pool is 840 above sea level. As of this afternoon lake level is 834.68 which is about normal for this time of year. The COE lets it drop starting in the fall so that when the spring rains come there is room.

    My Grandfather worked for the Corps on this lake as well as many more across the US.
  • buddybbuddyb Member Posts: 5,393 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I am in upstate SC where Ga,SC and NC meet.I am 64 years old and the ground is as dry as I have ever seen it.You can dig down 2 feet and the soil is powder dry.The news people said last night that the last good rains we had were in May.
  • Smitty500magSmitty500mag Member Posts: 13,623 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by CaptFun
    That photo is from 2007 (and not far from my house). My yard backs up to the COE easement around the lake, I can walk down to the water in about 10 minutes. That year it almost got down to the dead pool and my end of the lake was BONE dry just like that picture.

    Full pool is 840 above sea level. As of this afternoon lake level is 834.68 which is about normal for this time of year. The COE lets it drop starting in the fall so that when the spring rains come there is room.

    My Grandfather worked for the Corps on this lake as well as many more across the US.


    The site I got the picture from showed it taken on Oct. the 15th 2016. I'll see if I can find it again.

    UPDATE:
    I found this site and it said Georgia Introduces New Drought Rule
    By MOLLY SAMUEL APR 16, 2015 with that picture. Then when you read further down it says 2007. I also found one that said 2016 and used the same picture that I can't find.
    http://news.wabe.org/post/georgia-introduces-new-drought-rule

    Oh well the pictures on the evening news last night looks like the lake is getting close to that level now.
  • CaptFunCaptFun Member Posts: 16,678 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Smitty500mag
    quote:Originally posted by CaptFun
    That photo is from 2007 (and not far from my house). My yard backs up to the COE easement around the lake, I can walk down to the water in about 10 minutes. That year it almost got down to the dead pool and my end of the lake was BONE dry just like that picture.

    Full pool is 840 above sea level. As of this afternoon lake level is 834.68 which is about normal for this time of year. The COE lets it drop starting in the fall so that when the spring rains come there is room.

    My Grandfather worked for the Corps on this lake as well as many more across the US.


    The site I got the picture from showed it taken on Oct. the 15th 2016. I'll see if I can find it again.

    UPDATE:
    I found this site and it said Georgia Introduces New Drought Rule
    By MOLLY SAMUEL APR 16, 2015 with that picture. Then when you read further down it says 2007. I also found one that said 2016 and used the same picture that I can't find.
    http://news.wabe.org/post/georgia-introduces-new-drought-rule

    Oh well the pictures on the evening news last night looks like the lake is getting close to that level now.






    Not even close.

    http://allatoona.uslakes.info/Level.asp
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