News 12 First at Five, August 20, 2008

LAKE THURMOND -- Florida and parts of South Georgia may be getting plenty of rain from Tropical Storm Fay, but here in our area we won't be seeing much in the form of drought relief. Lake levels are at a six year low.

On Monday, Lake Thurmond officially entered drought level three. Today, it's level is close to dipping below 14 feet and without significant rain, it's only going to get worse.

Fay may have worn out her welcome in Florida, but a tropical storm is more than welcome here especially at Lake Thurmond. "That's the type of event its going to take for people to see some real improvement in pool elevation," says Jay Weidman, a Lake Thurmond Park Ranger with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

On Monday, it became official. We are now in a drought level 3, which means less water should be leaving Lake Thurmond and heading towards the Savannah River. But the Army Corps of Engineers already brought the amount down, by releasing less water for the past year. "We were very proactive and actually have been operating at level 3 since October of last year," says Weidman.

When it's full, it's 330 feet. Right now, we're at 316. It's now not a question of if, but when we will reach 312 and that means the corps will lose money. "We are basically out of the hydro power business. The machinery in the dam that generate power, the generators and turbines don't function properly below elevation 312. Four feet is not a lot of water," says Weidman.

Not a lot of water, and when the levels have dropped roughly 6 feet in the last year, not a lot of time either.

"By the time you get to the beach, you go out just a little bit and you can have an 8 to 20 foot drop. So we've had several drownings because of that," says Columbia County Emergency Services Director Pam Tucker.

"We're just in desperate need of rain. A few inches would have just been wonderful for this area," says Tucker.

So while Fay decides what direction to head next, she's got a big green light to come here.

As of air time, It doesn't look like we will see very much, if any rain from tropical storm Fay. And unfortunately, it would take several tropical storms to really help climb out of this drought.