Lake Okeechobee: Lake-O is back to normal mode

[HURAKAN]

Lake Okeechobee water level as of Aug 27, 2008

13.81 ft.

Before Fay: 11.34 ft.

13.81 - 11.34 = 2.47 ft.

Big Thanks to Fay!

[Storm Contractor]

On an interesting side note...ever wonder how much water 16 inches of rainfall equates to over a city wide area? In a discussion with drainage project engineers in debary today they estimated over 80,000,000 gallons of water fell in the area.
Imagine how much water fell across the state last week!

[HURAKAN]

Lake Okeechobee water level as of Aug 28, 2008

14.02 ft.

Thanks Fay!

Hanna, stay away, we don't need you!!

[HURAKAN]

Lake Okeechobee water level as of Aug 29, 2008

14.13 ft.

Fay gone but the lake continues to go up!

[DanKellFla]

The Army Corps on Engineers has already annouced the possibility of using lake water to bring up the level of the St. Lucie river if necessary.
???? What are they thinkink?

[HURAKAN]

Lake Okeechobee water level as of Aug 30, 2008

14.24 ft.

Continues to increase.

[HURAKAN]

Lake Okeechobee water level as of Aug 31, 2008

14.35 ft.

[HURAKAN]

Lake Okeechobee water level as of Sep 01, 2008

14.50 ft.

Now the level is about one fourth feet above average and flooding could become a problem depending how close Hanna comes to central and northern Florida. I think the water management will take about a foot of water from the lake. The levees are weak.

[HURAKAN]

Officials will decide Tuesday on water release from Lake Okeechobee
By Tyler Treadway

Thursday, August 28, 2008

The Army Corps of Engineers will decide Tuesday whether to release water from Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie Canal and eventually into the St. Lucie River estuary.

Lake Okeechobee water also could be released into the Caloosahatchee River west of the lake.

Andrew Geller, a senior hydraulic engineer at the Corp’s headquarters in Jacksonville, said forecasts for tropical storms Gustav and Hanna will play a major role in the decision.

“If the weather forecasters could tell us right now what’s going to happen with those two tropical storms out there right now, we could answer the question (of whether there will be releases).”

Luis Alejandro, the Corp’s manager of Lake Okeechobee and the Kissimmee River Basin, said other factors going into the decision include the lake’s level, the amount of local runoff remaining in canals from Tropical Storm Fay and the condition of the estuary.

Geller said the decision will be made late Tuesday; Alejandro said that if discharges are approved, they would begin immediately after the decision is made.

Geller said the discharges would range from 1,1700 to 1,800 cubic feet per second, depending on the amount of local runoff already in the canal.

“The rule of thumb is to get rid of the local runoff first,” he said, adding that Corps officials are hoping the local runoff has dwindled enough by Tuesday to allow discharges from the lake.

Geller said the Corps policy is to “try to get the lake maintained with small releases first so there’s less probability of high releases in the future.”

The Corps’ target operating levels for the lake are between 12.5 and 15.5 ft, which is a safe range for the Herbert Hoover Dike structure, Geller said.

The lake level was 14.02 feet Thursday morning. In the last week, the lake has risen 1.8 feet because of rain from Tropical Storm Fay. 

[HURAKAN]

Lake Okeechobee water level as of Sep 02, 2008

14.60 ft.

[HURAKAN]

Lake Okeechobee water level as of Sep 03, 2008

14.68 ft.

[sprink52]

I wonder what would happen to the lake level if we all ran our sprinklers for 24 hours?

[HURAKAN]

Lake Okeechobee water level as of Sep 04, 2008

14.75 ft.

Looking at Hanna at the moment I would wait to drain the lake. But since Ike is right on its heals, maybe a foot of water should be drained to keep the lake's levees from too much stress.

[HURAKAN]

I wonder what would happen to the lake level if we all ran our sprinklers for 24 hours?

During daytime most of the water will be evaporated by the Sun and during nighttime most of it will go back to the the ground. Of course, the lake levels would decrease.

[Derek Ortt]

why are they draining the lake? Did they not learn form the last time?

There is a far simple solution to the issue that does not threaten out water supply... DON'T LIVE NEAR THE LAKE!

[HURAKAN]

I agree Derek. If you leave the lake alone it will be better for everyone. But because people live near the lake and the levees are in such bad conditions, the water levels needs to always be regulated. In some cases bad management aggravates a drought.

[artist]

yeah, we are pretty upset about this as well. Seems they are going to be draining it over the next 11 days. Said that if we get hit with another storm the levees might break. Well, I was hoping they could at least be smart about it, but to be draining it for 11 days? Tells me they aren't. The only hope is where they want to feed it to is already high so to prevent flooding there they will have to take it extremely slow.
http://www.miamiherald.com/884/story/669520.html

[HURAKAN]

Lake Okeechobee water level as of Sep 05, 2008

14.78 ft.

[HURAKAN]

Lake Okeechobee water level as of Sep 07, 2008

15.07 ft.

[HURAKAN]

Lake Okeechobee water level as of Sep 08, 2008

15.10 ft.