Already this year, the Division of Forestry has battled 300 fires, covering about 11,000 acres. That's double the number of fires and five to 10 times the amount of acreage at the same time in previous years. It has not been this dry in Florida for 15 years, Risk said. Officials with the St. Johns River Water Management District, which governs water policy for central and north Florida, have described the lack of rainfall as the worst in at least a century. The index is measured on a scale of 0 to 800.
Lakes are dry.
Things have gotten so bad that state Agriculture Commissioner Bob Crawford last Friday pleaded with Floridians to stop burning yard trash to reduce the fire risk. Already, water officials are cracking down on water usage. The St. Johns River Water Management District last week limited landscape watering and carwashing to two days in Lake, Marion, Orange, Seminole and Volusia counties. Marion, Lake, Orange, Polk, Seminole, Volusia counties have had rainfall deficits 10 inches to 26 inches below normal. Groundwater levels in Orange County have declined by almost 9 feet for the past year while levels in the other counties have declined by 3 feet to 4 feet.