LAKE OKEECHOBEE, Fla. (WSVN) — As Hurricane Irma churns in the Atlantic Ocean, communities just south of Lake Okeechobee are hoping the surrounding dike will hold if the storm hits South Florida.
“When the lake gets above elevation 18 feet, we’ve seen performance issues,” said John Campbell of the U.S. Corps of Engineers.
About 3,000 people died when a hurricane caused the lake to flood in 1928. As a response to the tragedy, the United States government built the Herbert Hoover Dike in the 1930s.
After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the government started a massive $1.7 billion rehabilitation project.
Campbell said the project is about halfway complete. “It will likely take us, based on current funding projections, until the year 2025 before that’s done,” he said.
The lake is just over 13.5 feet above elevation. Officials prefer to keep the lake under 15 feet, and they said they would be nervous if it rose to 16 feet.
An added twelve inches of rain on the lake could mean a four-foot water rise.
There are some concerns about whether the dike could hold if a storm like Harvey, which caused severe damage in Texas, were to hit Florida.
“My heart goes out to those people. I don’t know even where they start to start their lives living again,” said resident Mary Ann Martin, who lives near the lake.
Martin watched the devastation of Harvey from home on her TV. She owns a marina on Lake Okeechobee and said she is confident that the dike will hold.
“We got a big lock out there of concrete and steel, and those gates will close. They’ll be locked up, so none of that water can come into Clewiston.”
Kenny Ward has lived in Clewiston his whole life and works at the city’s Historical Inn. He also said he feels safe.
“With a lot of prayer and a restoration process that’s going on, we’re hoping we should be able to ride out the storm,” he said.
Campbell warns that residents should be cautious and plan ahead.
“We can reduce the risk a lot, but for a very extreme advance there will be still some residual risk, and our advice would be to have personal preparedness plans,” said Campbell.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.