ASHEVILLE, N.C. — When Tropical Storm Fay was flooding parts of Florida last week, people here prayed that the soaking rains would move north and douse this drought-stricken mountain resort city.
The rains finally arrived Monday, but even an all-day storm could not ease one of the most punishing droughts in the last 100 years -- some say the worst ever -- in this region.
The rest of the southeastern United States has gradually recovered from last summer's record drought, but a small pocket in western North Carolina and parts of three other states remain locked in some of the driest conditions they've ever recorded.
In Asheville earlier this month, the French Broad River, the major waterway here, reached its lowest levels since record-keeping began in 1895. Local residents described walking across sections of the normally deep-flowing river for the first time in their lives.
Even with the rainstorm, the state's Drought Management Advisory Council considers the region mired in "extreme" drought, the second-most-severe of five drought categories.
The 18-county area lies roughly between the Great Smoky and Blue Ridge mountains, with extreme drought conditions extending into corners of Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia.
"The rain was great, but we still have a long way to go before we catch up" to normal rainfall levels, said Hartwell Carson, the French Broad River keeper.
The drought, now in its second year, has been so severe that some towns have imposed mandatory water restrictions that have left lawns brown and perennial beds wilted. A few white-water rafting companies have temporarily shut down, putting a strain on an economy that relies, in part, on tourism and recreation.
Many cattle farmers can't grow enough hay to feed their herds, forcing some to sell off the animals. Apple growers complain that the lack of rain has produced smaller, less profitable fruit.
Many restaurants are serving water only on request and are using paper plates and plastic utensils. One firefighting company is using portable pumps to draw water from ponds rather than from hydrants fed by local water systems.
Swimming and boating were banned at one local lake because "there just wasn't much lake left to speak of," said Bill Eaker, environmental services manager for the Land-of-Sky Regional Council, a planning consortium of four mountain counties. In 27 years of working on river programs, Eaker said, he has never seen the French Broad so dry.
