CULLMAN —
Dry conditions remain a problem across Cullman County, with summer thunderstorms causing damage and knocking out electrical service Wednesday evening in Fairview.
Minor power outages and downed trees were reported late Wednesday following a storm, which saw powerful lightning strikes knock out service in parts of Fairview for several hours. At least one home was also reportedly damaged in the Fairview area by a lightning strike.
Cullman County Emergency Management Agency Director Phyllis Little said small, lightning-heavy storms are common in the summer, and recent conditions have made them even more dangerous. Portions of Cullman County went under a severe thunderstorm warning early Thursday evening.
“When you’re dealing with summer thunderstorms, and these temperatures, we can get some intense lightning,” she said. “When the atmospheric conditions are right, those storms can be very bad. We could see even more of the popcorn-type showers this week, with similar conditions.”
Though the small amounts of rainfall in recent days have been encouraging, Little said it will take a lot more to move the area away from the current near-drought conditions.
“I think this will continue for quite a while, because it would take 6-8 inches of rain for us to really catch up, and make a significant dent throughout the region,” she said. “That’s all because the ground is just so dry.”
The dearth of rain is also chipping away at the Cullman water supply in Lake Catoma, which dipped to 6-feet below full pool Thursday — down from 5-feet below full pool earlier this week.
City officials have already asked residents to take voluntary measures to preserve water, though the situation would have to worsen drastically for mandatory restrictions to take effect.
Per the city water conservation plan, levels at Catoma would have to dip to 15-feet below full pool for the next phase of restrictions to trigger.
But, if dry weather continues and water usage remains high, the area could reach that level within several weeks. The treatment plant is still pulling approximately 16 million gallons-per-day to keep up with demand, and Cullman water treatment plant manager David Freeman said it would take quite a bit of rainfall to start building Catoma back up.
“The ground is so dry that the water table under the ground would have to fill up, and it’ll probably take at least three inches or rainfall to bring the lake up one foot,” he said.
* Trent Moore can be reached by e-mail at trentm@cullmantimes.com, or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 220.
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Lightning struck a tree in the Fairview community, causing minor damage to a nearby home. TRENT MOORE
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