No Signs of Relief as Southeast Swelters

Southeast residents sweltered in a week-old heat wave with no signs of early relief Sunday, and one official in South Carolina sounded the call for water-rationing plans.

“It looks like the heat will continue for at least today and tomorrow with no change in sight,” Paul Fikes, a spokesman for the National Weather Service, said Sunday. “It will be 100 degrees over parts of the Carolinas and Georgia” although some scattered showers are expected, “but not nearly enough to alleviate the problems with the drought.”

Columbia, S.C., reached 104 degrees, breaking a record of six days of 100-degree plus readings set in 1977. It was also the hottest official reading in the 48 states, the weather service said.

Similar temperatures were predicted for today.

Record at Cape Hatteras

Cape Hatteras, N.C., on the Outer Banks, hit a record high of 92, and coastal Wilmington, N.C., hit a record 99 degrees Sunday.

Hot, humid weather also spread northward as far as Maryland. In southern Virginia, Virginia Beach also edged toward 100.

John Purvis, state climatologist, warned officials in South Carolina to be ready to implement water-rationing early this week if the hot weather continues, and it was reported that a declaration on the emergency was expected today.

The declaration would allow regional drought response committees to restrict non-essential water use.

The weather service said the only rain predicted in most of the region was widely scattered thunderstorms.

Rainfall Below Normal

Rainfall in South Carolina has been 15 to 20 inches below normal for the year. In Georgia, Atlanta is 15 inches short and parts of the state’s northern mountains are more than 20 inches below normal. North Carolina’s Piedmont region is more than 16 inches below normal.

“You’ve heard of the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Bobby Vause, a farm equipment dealer in Fayetteville, N.C. “This will be it for a lot of farmers. This is the very last thing they needed.

“I grew up fishing and swimming in the ponds in this area. Ponds that I’ve never seen low before are empty,” Vause said.

“Some areas of the state (North Carolina) would need an entire year’s normal rainfall over the next three months just to get things back on center,” said Grant W. Goodge, climatologist at the weather service’s Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.

Corn Crop in Jeopardy

Without substantial rain in the next two weeks, agricultural experts in North Carolina predict as much as 75% of the corn crop, valued at $340 million last year, will be lost.

At least three deaths have been blamed on the heat in the Carolinas, while two heat-related deaths have been reported in Georgia.

Meanwhile, a series of tornadoes ripped through villages in upstate New York on Sunday, knocking mobile homes over, piling cars on top of each other and injuring at least five people, authorities said.

Thunderstorms with winds up to 76 m.p.h. pounded southeast Kansas, dropping 7 1/2 inches of rain in a 24-hour period in parts of Montgomery County and more than 6 inches in Chautauqua County.