Flood waters moving south, east and west
Unprecedented move comes at a time when much of Florida is flooded due to rains and storms from an El Nino
Jesse Kennon watched Thursday as state workers built new walkways at his home and business along Tamiami Trail near the Shark Valley Slough entrance to Everglades National Park.
"I don't know what's going to happen," Kennon said while South Florida Water Management District workers extended his docks to bridge the gap during flooding conditions. "This is something you'd see in August or September with a tropical storm dropping a foot of rain in 24 hours."
Kennon said water levels there now are higher than they were during the past rainy season, and more water is on the way.
Gov. Scott worked with several state and federal agencies, Florida Power & Light and private land owners inside Everglades National Park — developing a plan that allowed the South Florida Water Management District to send flood waters to the driest areas of the park.
This unprecedented move comes at a time when much of Florida is flooded due to rains and storms from an El Nino pattern that's expected to bring more rain to this area over the next two to three months.
The releases are part of a 90-day operation the state and Army Corps hope will lower Okeechobee levels to a safe level before the next rainy season begins in June.
Water that falls just south of Orlando flows south to the Kissimmee River area, which sends water to Lake Okeechobee. Lake levels fall and rise with the seasons and water management protocols, but the Army Corps of Engineers says the lake should be kept between 12.5 and 15.5 feet above sea level to ensure the safety of people and property south of Okeechobee.
Levels have been above 16 feet for several weeks, according to Army Corps records.
The water district used the controversial practice of backpuming in recent weeks to pull water off the landscape south of the lake. Lake levels rose after that pumping, which took water from towns and farm fields and put it in the lake.
Okeechobee rose nearly a foot above the Army Corps maximum. Then much of the water was sent to the Fort Myers-Sanibel and St. Lucie areas as fast as pumps and gravity would drive it.
The historic Everglades evolved with epic rainstorms and flooding conditions during much of the year. Heavy rains, though, are rare between November and April.
The water district started moving water Monday night from storage areas south of the lake toward a 1-mile section of elevated highway just west of Miami. Water is flowing under the bridge and into the drier, eastern section of the park — where alligators have died in recent years due to a lack of water.
Rick Farace, owner of Everglades Safari Park along Tamiami Trail, said water has been rising a quarter- to a half-inch per day on his property, which is a few miles from the elevated bridge.
"We're doing our part — bring it on if it helps," Farace said when asked why he signed off an agreement that allowed the releases. "Everything seems to be working so far. It looks like it's doing its job, but what happens if it backs up and comes back this way."
Stanley Holland is an airboat captain and one of only a few dozen or so boaters allowed to roam the flooded water storage areas north of Tamiami Trail and Everglades National Park.
He and a handful of other airboat operators sat idle at a boat launch that leads to the vast sawgrass prairies and tree islands.
"(The state) doesn't want people up on the tree islands because this is the time of year when does drop their fawns," Holland said. (And the animals) can't move from island to island, but we don't take people to the islands anyway."
Tree islands are clusters of hardwood species that emerge from the vast sawgrasses and can be large enough for a few trees or a few houses.
An alligator and frog hunter, Holland said he's never seen waters so high in the dry season. Wildlife is confused, he said, and must swim or fly from tree island to tree island in order to find dry land.
"The wading birds are usually here because this is the last slough to hold water," he said. "But I can take you all over and we won't see many animals."
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