ATLANTA (AP) – A storm crashed through the Southeast and brought up to an inch of rain in parts of drought-stricken Georgia, but forecasters said the storm likely did little to ease the state’s historic drought.

The rain late Wednesday and early Thursday brought some precipitation to the parched hills of northern Georgia. The showers began a day after Gov. Sonny Perdue led a prayer service on the steps of the state Capitol to beg the heavens to end the drought.

“Certainly, we’re not gloating about it,” Perdue said from a trade mission in Canada. “We’re thankful for the rain and hopefully it’s the beginning of more. … Frankly, it’s great affirmation of what we asked for.”

As the drought has worsened, Perdue has ordered water restrictions, launched a legal battle against the release of water from federal reservoirs and appealed to President Bush.

The rainfall was likely not enough the ease the drought, forecasters said.

“The ground probably sucked it all up,” said Vaughn Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Peachtree City. “The ground is so dry, I seriously doubt if any of the lakes rose any.”

Storms hit elsewhere in the Southeast, injuring at least nine in Tennessee.

In Tennessee’s Marion County, the roof of a Baptist church was heavily damaged in the storms, said Jeremy Heidt of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. Three children were hurt by flying glass and were taken to hospitals, said Heidt.

City Hall across the street from the church suffered minor damage, Heidt said, and an ambulance business next to it had heavy damage. A house also collapsed, but the residents went to the hospital themselves.

More than a quarter of the Southeast is covered by an “exceptional” drought – the National Weather Service’s worst drought category.