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  • June

    Jacksonville District

    Jacksonville Commander announces Lake Okeechobee Wet Season Strategy

    The start of the wet season is a key moment in any water year, and it is here for 2023. We have seen the weather shift into wet season patterns across south Florida and over Lake Okeechobee. When the system is in a transition, we work together to assess the current system conditions, look back at what’s happened, and evaluate trends moving forward. Let’s review the 2022-2023 dry season and outline our strategy for the 2023 wet season.

  • May

    Water flows through the spillway gates at Moore Haven Lock & Dam in early 2016. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has seen water levels in Lake Okeechobee go from one extreme to the other over the past year.

    Lake O water levels fall to start 2017

    An extended period of dry weather since Hurricane Matthew in October has caused the water level in Lake Okeechobee to steadily recede over the past six months. This, in sharp comparison to last year’s dry season that contained some of the wettest months ever recorded in the region.

  • July

    Water flows from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee River at the Moore Haven lock and dam. Flows during 2014 have been much closer to normal following heavy precipitation at the beginning of the 2013 wet season.

    Water managers prepare for wet season

    An early start to the wet season in 2013 kept the lake from dropping below 13 feet – its lowest point last year was 13.29 feet on May 27. The loss of water storage capacity became evident when the lake started rising, and the district was left with little choice but to discharge the water in case a tropical system developed that would result in additional heavy rains.

  • October

    Crowds line the fence during a demonstration held at the St. Lucie Lock & Dam August 3 to protest the discharges from Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee River Estuaries. An estimated 5,000 people attended the event.

    All in a day’s work: South Florida Operations Office multi-tasks all summer

    During normal operations, the staff is responsible for the Okeechobee Waterway, the recreation areas around the locks, maintenance on Herbert Hoover Dike, and numerous other tasks. However, as the water rose on Lake Okeechobee this summer, SFOO staff had to adjust duties to accommodate other priorities, such as weekly inspections of the 80-year-old dike.

  • January

    Water flows through the gates of the St. Lucie Lock in late September, as Jacksonville District started discharges from Lake Okeechobee to stem the rapid rise in lake levels after Tropical Storm Isaac. The releases began Sept. 19 and continued until early November.

    Milestones reached at Herbert Hoover Dike as dedication to water management balance continues

    The past year saw both low water and high water at Lake Okeechobee, as well as completion of one project and the start of others on Herbert Hoover Dike (HHD). The best news occurred in October, when the last section of cutoff wall in the dike between Port Mayaca and Belle Glade was accepted by Jacksonville District construction representatives. The action meant 21.4 miles of cutoff wall that had been under construction since 2007 was in place, reducing the risk of failure for the southeast portion of the dike.