Lanier to reduce releases during this week's heavy rain

Only a small amount of water will be released from Lake Lanier over the next few days, as officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan for runoff from Tropical Storm Ida's heavy rains.

Patrick Robbins, a spokesman for the Corps, told the Gainesville Times that as Ida moves north out of the Gulf of Mexico, the lower lakes in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint basin will fill up first.

"So, at Lanier, we will not be making any releases for at least the next two days except through the small generator as we watch what's occurring downstream," Robbins told the Times on Monday.