Water poses threat

Growing risks from ’Glades flooding prompt emergency measures

Growing flooding risks west of Fort Lauderdale and Miami on Wednesday triggered new emergency measures to deal with rising Everglades waters.

Heavy rains this summer have boosted water levels about 2 feet higher than normal in Everglades marshes stretching across western Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

“If the rains continue, at some point you have concerns with the levees,” Army Corps of Engineers spokesman John Campbell said Wednesday. “Coming at the peak of hurricane season, it’s not an ideal situation to be in.”

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.

New plans call for holding more water in western Palm Beach County and northern Broward County instead of letting it flow south to high-water areas.

The emergency pumping into Everglades National Park continues.

The most immediate high-water threat is to deer, wading birds and other Everglades animals struggling to find high ground in western Broward and Miami-Dade conservation areas outside the national park.

With so much of Florida’s storm season still to come, lingering high water there also raises the risk of overwhelming levees relied on to keep the Everglades from flooding western communities.

Increased levee inspections this summer haven’t revealed any problems, according to the South Florida Water Management District. Broward and Palm Beach county levees that hold back Everglades waters have undergone rehabs in recent years.

Canals that move water east continue to work at maximum capacity, draining water out to sea.

“Everything looks good,” district spokesman Randy Smith said.

Holding more water in Palm Beach and northern Broward is expected to last into the fall, according to the Army Corps.

“The measures we implemented in June have helped, but we must do more to reverse the trend,” Carol Bernstein, who oversees the Army Corps’ Florida operations Division Chief, said in a statement released Wednesday. “This action will help reduce some of the in-flows into the area.”