I
By Kelly Davis
Ken Ruinard Independent·Mail
Tlw s h ore s of Singing Pines Recreation Area on Hartwell Lake in
Anderson Coun ty are down 8 .23 feet from full pool elevation, accord­
i n c, to t h e u.s. Army Corps of Engineers. However, fall rainfall bas
IJ I o u g ht up the lake level about 3 feet.
lIidependent·M81l
So much rain has fallen in the Carolinas th at the
So uth Carol ina Drought Response Commi ttee at a
Thurs day meeting skipped "moderate" altogether and
downgraded m o s t of lh e s tate from " extreme" or
" severe " dr o u gh t to " in C ipient" or no drought at all .
The committee met in Columbia to review climate
data for two ho ur s Thursday before voting to down­
grade the ent ire state to incipient drought , except for a
IO-county area in the southern coastal plain. .
"It's just that we've gotten so much rain that it's
changed the situation , " said Milt Brown, the state's act­
ing climatologist. "I guess we could. have had a meeting
maybe three or four weeks ago an d maybe gone halfway,
but s ince conditions were improving it prob ably would
have been a waste of time . "
The comm ittee, made up of representatives from
stale agencies and state and local industries, declared
Calhoun, S u mter, Clarendon, Williamsburg,
Please see Rain, Page 4A
F r o m Page I A
Geo r 'Te tow . OOl·chester.
CoUet on. Bea ufort, Cllarl ston
and ) r:ke lcy coun ties oUl of
the drought.
The state re ceive d iJe m'een
16 i!lclleS Cind 30 in ch e s of rCl in
since late Aug us t - 5 inches to
1-'i inches above normal. said
Hope Mizzell. the D ro u gh t
Response Program co o ni ina­
tOt:
Wat r tables in many areas
of the state and the Savannah
River rese rvoirs re m ain below
normal levels but are begin­
n i ng to recover. M r. B rown
said.
"Once tho se two things are
done. we're basically back to
nor mal , " he said.
Hartwell Lake on Thur s d ay
was approxi mately 6 . 6 fe et
below its n or m a l level a n d
Strom Thurmond Lake was 4.6
feet below normal. D u ke
Power's lake s Jocassee and
Keowee were nearly 22 feet and
6 feet Jelo\\i l"ormal. l'CSU€C'
. data. 2 nd C0n1111 u n ic.1 t;r)11 with
tivei}.
A m o d p ra te El Nino patcern
has formed that should pro­
duce a b ove-average rni n fa l 1
this v;iIlter.- w i thout t h e severe
wea ther a powerful El Nino
prod ueed in 1997·98. [\·lr. Brown
saie!.
Rivers in the Pee Dee
re gio n . at crisis lo ws during
t he s u mlner because of low
ra infal l in coastal North
Carolina, are now back to
b rimming, Mr. B rown said.
The low rivers were the reason
the drought committee
declared the Pee Dee region to
be in severe drought earl ie r
this year.
"It's a complete turn-around
from the way it was," he said.
Inc ip ient drought status
triggers the mobilization of
the committee - with meet­
ings as deemed necessary
cl os e mon itori ng of stream
and lake l evel s , soil moisture
ra infall and o th e r climatic
rr :as ul1 ro illet: L If '}': 2 11t' (
the p u b l ic thal dro ugh t conii· 8t.:C1 i n . "mel it '-vo uld D l'O Cl b ·:
..
t i on s exist and could wo,·sen. be alter the \\l in ter. it '-'I-'o u l d be
Severe or extreme drought to take down t he l'ernainin�
status calls �or voluntary 01' areas of the s ,Q te fro111 inc i p i­
iW\il aton' 'es,rict ions o n (-'lot drough I . "
w a t "r use a u d even closer
ml! . ' to ring.
Duri g the most re cen t
severe n d extreme drought
'
p er io d 30 water co mp an i es -
,
including vValhalla's - p u t
m andato ry water restrictions
i n place. and many more asked
users to volun ta rily conserve,
Mr. B rown said.
During that period, o fficials
monitored streams. la1,es and
groundwater on daily basis.
Now, monitoring will be
reduced to vv'atching rainfall
as it comes and probably look­
ing at stream and water-table
data only weekly, he said.
As for the drought commit­
- tee, "unless something drastic
happens, I doubt if i t wo u ld
, meet again this year," Me
B rown said. "There isn't any