Georgia has declared a state of emergency following its worst drought in decades and appealed to President George W. Bush for federal aid, newspapers said on Sunday.
The drought, which has hit several states including swaths of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and North and South Carolina, has been facilitated by low rainfall in the Southeastern United States.
Governor Sonny Perdue asked Bush to put out a federal disaster designation for the drought-affected regions of the state that would authorize him to order less water released from Lake Sidney Lanier and make federal funds available to state and local governments.
This, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, would also enable low interest loans to be offered to Georgia businesses affected by the drought.
Said Perdue, who declared the state of emergency for 85 of the state’s 159 counties,
We are experiencing the single worst drought in Georgia history. … On top of that, we are mired in a man-made disaster of federal bureaucracy
There has been an alarming fall in water levels at Lake Lanier, which has 692 miles of shoreline and stands at the head of a system of storage lakes and rivers serving much of Georgia and parts of Florida and Alabama.
The lake, according to Ronald Payne, deputy commander of the Mobile district for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will reach the bottom of its storage pan, although it will not have run dry, if no rain falls within the next 80 days.
Much of the state is experiencing a drought classified as “extreme,” which happens once every 50 to 100 years, according to climatologists. An outdoor watering ban is in effect for much of the state, including Atlanta.
Image: zinester
