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CLEWISTON, Fla. – For the thousands of Floridians who live in the shadow of the 80-year-old dike that surrounds Lake Okeechobee, there is always a back-of-the-mind fear that the earthen barrier might fail — a twitch that gets ticked up a notch when its water level reaches near-record levels like now.
The Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the dike, said Thursday that recently activated daily inspections show that while there is some increased seepage as the water level now exceeds 17 feet (5 meters), the dike’s integrity has not been compromised. The lake’s water level seems to have finally stabilized five weeks after Hurricane Irma dumped heavy rains as it raked across Florida, causing a 3.5 foot (1-meter) increase in the lake. The record is 18.5 feet (5.6 meters).
The corps has been releasing lake water through canals to the state’s Atlantic and Gulf coasts to keep the levels under control and lessen the chance of failure of the 40-foot (12-meter) high berm, which winds for 142 miles (230 kilometers). It was built in the 1930s using sand, rocks, limestone, clay and peat that came from local dredging. Little compaction was done.
Almur Whiting, the corps’ regional dam safety officer, said if the dike were built today, better material would have been used and it would have been packed tighter. He showed a…
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