Mandatory evacuations

Officials fear dike may be compromised

Residents of seven towns south of Lake Okeechobee were under a mandatory evacuation over fears that heavy winds could push water over the Herbert Hoover Dike that holds the lake.

The seven towns included are: Belle Glade, Canal Point, Clewiston, Harbor, Moore Haven, Pahokee and South Bay.

The dike, a 70-year-old mound of rock, shell and dirt, is in the midst of extensive rebuilding and is vulnerable to heavy winds and rain.

“There are maybe three areas where we’re doing some rehab where water may flow over the top,” Gov. Rick Scott said Friday at a press conference at the South Florida Water Management District headquarters in West Palm Beach. “Do not put yourself or your family at risk.”

The aging dike is already prone to seepage, but the Army Corps of Engi- neers is confident it will not breach, which could cause disastrous flooding.

The dike was originally constructed in the 1930s after two disastrous hurricanes in 1926 and 1928, the latter of which flooded the area south of the lake with water 20 feet deep. It resulted in about 2,500 deaths.

The Army Corps of Engineers strengthened the dike in the 1960s, but seepage already occurs when lake levels are high.

The Corps has already strengthLake

ened the southeast portion of the dike, which is the most vulnerable spot, by building a wall through the middle of the dike from Port Mayaka to Belle Glade. The next phase calls for extending that wall over to the southwestern side of the lake, but that work hasn’t happened yet.

Even in the unlikely event of a breach in the dike, it’s unlikely that flooding would reach the horrific levels of the 1920s. But flooding from the dike, coupled with canals already filled to capacity with water from the hurricane, could result in inland flooding, far from the areas under mandatory evacuation.