Lanier up 3/4 foot from Friday

BUFORD - Lake Lanier was up another three-quarters of a foot Monday morning from Friday, following heavy rains and a reduction in releases which began Friday.

With several inches of rain falling over the Upper Chattahoochee River Basin Saturday, the water can be expected to rise even more. Up to four inches of rain fell in places during Saturday's stormy weather.

The level of the drought-stricken lake early Monday was 1055.49, the first time it's been above 1055 since fall. It was 1054.74 early Friday, the day the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it would begin holding back another 16 billion gallons of water and not releasing it from the lake through Buford Dam.