Water pumps to be installed

Two of four boat ramps on the levee surrounding the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in the Everglades will be temporarily closed from Monday through Nov. 30, officials said.

The installation of three temporary water pumps in southern Palm Beach County is causing the closure.

This new pumping is in reaction to lingering flooding threats in Broward County. The pumps will decrease rising waters caused by extreme rainfall in June and July. It is the two western boat ramps, 15000 block of Loxahatchee Road, that will be closed, said Randy Smith, spokesman for the South Florida Water Management District.

The western portion of the parking lot also will be closed.

Heavy rains this summer have boosted water levels about two feet higher than normal in Everglades marshes stretching across western Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The excessive rainfall has caused threatening conditions for deer, wading birds and other Everglades animals struggling to find high ground in these conservation areas.

Emergency pumping started in late June to send more water into drier portions of Everglades National Park, but that hasn’t been enough to address flooding threats, according to federal officials.

The three new pumps will move water from the portion of the Everglades that stretches through Broward County to the refuge and on out to tide, he said.