Knoxville, TN – The drought is easing because of rain this year, a Tennessee Valley Authority official says. At the start of 2008, rainfall totals were 19 inches below normal. That's now down to 2.5 inches, thanks to the recent rains.
"We're still making up those dry deficits, but we are beginning to gain on it," said TVA spokesman David Bowling, who manages the agency's River Forecast Center.
He told WBIR-TV he's cautiously optimistic about the outlook.
"If we continue to see a couple of inches of rain a week, something like that, we will continue to fill our reservoirs to our June 1 target levels," Bowling said.
"If conditions begin to dry up like we saw last year, we'll continue to operate in a minimum flow manner, conserving as much water as possible and positioning ourselves to have as much water in storage as possible."
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TVA: http://www.tva.gov
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)