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Report: Okeechobee Dike In Dire Shape

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 4, 2007

WEST PALM BEACH - The aging earthen dike around Lake Okeechobee - the only barrier between the second-largest freshwater body in the contiguous United States and thousands of residents - presents an "urgent and compelling" need for repairs, stated a report released Friday.

The report by a panel of independent experts, commissioned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, recommends keeping lake levels low until repairs are completed and studying a spillway to release water rapidly in the event of a storm.

Several studies have shown that the dike is in dire need of repair.

One report last year found that the 143-mile Herbert Hoover Dike has nearly failed several times in the past decade and is "a grave and imminent danger" to human life. About 45,000 people live in the lake's immediate flood zone.
Corps officials on Friday stressed that work is being done as quickly as possible.

The corps currently is working on the dike's most distressed sections along the lake's southern rim nearest to communities, but those fixes aren't expected to be complete until 2020. The entire $856 million project could take up to 20 years to finish.

Even with work under way and hot spots identified, residents along the lake shouldn't rest too easy.

"The 100-year flood could happen tomorrow afternoon," said the corps' Alan Bugg, chief of construction for dike repair. "We're doing everything we can to mitigate risk."

"We're looking at literally millions of square feet of these walls" needed to help shore up the dike, added Donald Bruce, one of the authors of the latest report.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is compiling a report to measure local disaster plans for the possibility of a Category 5 storm passing over the lake.

Early estimates put most of South Florida under up to 4 feet of water for up to 22 days if a major breach occurred. A million people could be left homeless.

Friday's report indicated that seepage, sinkhole formation and erosion already are occurring.

Meanwhile, the corps is prepared for a potential breach, stockpiling 45,000 tons of stone, 415,000 small sandbags and 1,000 4,000-pound bags.

The Associated Press

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