Torrential rains that would ease Georgia's historic drought failed to materialize Wednesday, one day after the southern US state's governor prayed up a storm.
Governor Sonny Perdue's prayer gathering stirred up controversy, but on the weather front it was followed by little more than thin drizzles in parts of Georgia.
"We respectfully pray up a storm," Perdue told a crowd that gathered on Tuesday outside the Capitol, which houses the state legislature.
"It is time to appeal to Him who can and will make a difference."
Local media received calls and mail from residents who felt the prayer ceremony violated the principle of separation of church and state, and insisted the governor should focus on better planning rather than hope for divine intervention.
"God is not an ATM machine you can go to and get whatever you need whenever you ask for it," one reader wrote on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's blog.
Much of Georgia is under a level four, or "extreme" drought, which officials say it the worst the state has experienced since 1892, if not in history. Forecasters fear the state could experience an unusually dry winter, which would exacerbate drought conditions.
.gif)
