It sounds like the rain may have really hampered the search..........
Knowing that part of the original TMZ report were in error, it's possible that other parts of the report weren't factual either.
The TMZ article stated that the person who led LE to the site, led them to the EXACT spot where Stacy is buried in a metal barrel, and that LE used a prod and that prod was stopped by some object buried beneath the ground. It was also stated that dogs also went to that same spot.
If that were accurate, digging in the one specific spot should have yielded something by now. I suspect that the person led LE to an area, rather than an EXACT spot, and dogs also hit on that same area. LE may have to search an area of..........just throwing this out as speculation........maybe an acre or a half acre in size.
It's been two and a half years since Stacy disappeared. If the source of the information is an accessory to the disposal of Stacy's remains, he might recognize certain land features, but not be absolutely accurate on the exact spot. Stacy disappeared on October 28, 2007, and at that time the trees were nearly bare of leaves. This is June and the trees now have new green leaves. It's things like this that can throw one's memory off.