Lush lawns thriving on season's rain

Lakes and canals, however, face a more difficult recovery.

By JORGE SANCHEZ

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 2, 2000

The heavy rains of the past several weeks have dumped lots of rainwater on parched lawns and skimpy lakes.

Lawns that were brown have suddenly transformed into patches of green, and the grass is growing like mad. So is the lawn mower repair business.

"We went from nothing to being swamped," said David Bliss, general manager of Easy Wheels, a John Deere mower dealership in Hernando. "This happens every year. People don't mow until it starts to rain, and then they have to bring their mowers in here for us to fix."

The rainfall over the past two weeks has been spectacular. As regular as clockwork, afternoon thundershowers have poured inch upon inch of badly needed water over the parched land.

"I've measured about 6 inches in the past four days," said Sonny Zettle, owner of Watson's Fish Camp on Hernando Lake.

Zettle said the lake level in Hernando was "pretty good, but the canals are still dry."

The Tsala Apopka Lake Chain stretches from Floral City to Hernando and the lake pools are connected by canals. A spot check Saturday morning of the canal connecting Floral City and Inverness, on State Road 44 E, showed the once-dry canal now has several inches of slow-moving water.

According to the National Weather Service, the rain gauge in downtown Inverness has measured 7.2 inches of rain in the past week alone. A weather watcher in the south Highlands said he received 3 inches of rain during Friday's lengthy downpour.

In Citrus Hills, weather watcher Tom Barron said the monthly rainfall amount there was 13.8 inches as of Friday morning. The National Weather Service officially listed Inverness as getting a healthy 1.5 inches of rain Friday.

While the lawns may have bounced back, the lakes and canals face a tougher recovery.

At the Cove Campground, a popular east Citrus lakeside restaurant, boat traffic is still just a memory. The access canal is dry and has "weeds 8 to 10 feet tall in it," said Jack Zerbo, a cook.

"The lakes are still down a good 6 or 7 feet," he said.

Zerbo said his lakefront property on Gospel Island, across the lake from Cove, has shown an inch or two of recovery.

A marine dealer in Inverness said the drought continues to affect his business.

"It's hurt our johnboat and pontoon sales," said Joe Bega, owner of Apopka Marine on U.S. 41 S, Inverness.

Bega said boaters are still not taking their crafts out on the lakes.

"The boat ramps are closed," he said. "There just hasn't been enough rain yet."

Bega criticized Inverness officials for not taking the opportunity to make repairs to the boat ramps while they are exposed due to the low water.

"Instead of taking the opportunity to make the repairs, they've just closed the ramps," he said. "I've called them and so have the fishing clubs, asking them to take action now."

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