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South Florida Water Management District Making Final Preparations Ahead Of Hurricane Dorian

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – South Florida Water Management District officials and power crews are making final preparations as Hurricane Dorian threatens Florida.

The Army Corps of Engineers oversees Lake Okeechobee. WPEC, the CBS affiliate in Palm Beach reports, the lake is two feet higher than it was last month because of a wet August.

However, the corps doesn't have plans for any pre-storm releases. Instead, releases will be done after Hurricane Dorian.

The South Florida Water Management District oversees many canals from Orlando to Miami-Dade.

"What we need to do is prepare for the ten-inch plus amount of rain that could come with Dorian. So, they will lower the canals so when it rains, it can absorb all that water," Executive Director Drew Bartlett said.

While crews have been lowering the water level in the district's canals,

"It's still raining, right? That's happening plus everyone is getting their schedule ready. We are turning pumps on and off to make sure every single one works," Bartlett said.

Florida Power and Light says it is bringing in people from 34 states and Canada to help out after the storm. But they are warning customers it could take a while to restore power in some neighborhoods.

"There will be parts of this that we will be able to restore. There will be parts of the system we will have to rebuild. So, some of these outages could be extensive."

The water level at Lake Okeechobee is currently 13.6 feet, but heavy rain from Hurricane Dorian is expected to change that but Florida officials are ready.

Dorian's rain and runoff are likely to raise water levels and pressure on the aging Herbert Hoover Dike that surrounds the lake.

However, Governor Ron DeSantis says while there are concerns, the state is ready.

"So the water levels are lower than they've typically been. I mean part of that is things that that we were working with the federal government on really to try to obviate some of the environmental damage that was being caused by the discharges. You know that said you're looking at a potentially significant amount of rainfall. And so we're in contact with the Army Corps. They reported to me yesterday that they had you know capacity for another four feet." He added, "But you know these things a storm of this magnitude and particularly how slow it's going you know has a capacity to dump an awful lot of water into the lake. And so we are in a situation where if the lake gets to a certain level you know they obviously have their different protocols of how they deal with that with the federal government."

Rain and runoff from Hurricane Irma caused the water level to rise to 17.2 feet, which caused a major stress on the aging Hoover Dike.

The South Florida Water Management District says rain and runoff from Dorian could put up to two feet of water in the lake, which remains below serious levels of concern for the dike.

 

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