Rains pushing lake levels up

UNDATED - Over the past two weeks, the level of Lake Hartwell has shown its best gains since spring, while Lake Lanier has gone up about a third-of-a-foot.


The U.S Army Corps of Engineers reports that water levels at Hartwell were up more than 18 inches between Nov. 25 and Dec. 5.

Water levels increased for 11 straight days as more rain than expected fell in the Hartwell area.

Billy Birdwell with the corps notes that winter rains have started early this year.

Meanwhile, the level of Lake Lanier increased .39 of a foot during roughly the same period of time, and was at 1058.56 early Friday, still well-below full pool, which is 1071.

(AccessNorthGa.com's Ken Stanford contributed to this story.)