The Herbert Hoover Dike is a dike around the waters of Lake Okeechobee in Florida .
28-655: In the 1910s, a small earthen dike was constructed. This containment was breached by the storm surge from the Great Miami Hurricane in 1926 and the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane , killing thousands. After these disasters the Florida State Legislature created the Okeechobee Flood Control District , which was authorized to cooperate with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in flood control undertakings. After
56-486: A breach, a kolk lake can sometimes remain after the water level recedes. In some cases levees are breached intentionally. This can be done to protect other areas, to drain flooded areas, or to give back land to nature. In most cases an intentional breach is not without discussion since valuable land is given up. During the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 a levee was blown up with dynamite to prevent
84-400: A large amount of drag from the water. Whole fences can be dragged away by the water. Sometimes levees are said to fail when water overtops the crest of the levee. Levee overtopping can be caused when flood waters simply exceed the lowest crest of the levee system or if high winds begin to generate significant swells (a storm surge ) in the ocean or river water to bring waves crashing over
112-421: A larger system of levees was built around the lake. Following heavy precipitation and flooding from two hurricanes in 1947, the dike was again expanded in the 1960s to create the current Herbert Hoover Dike. The dike almost completely encloses the lake. The only gap in the dike is at Fisheating Creek , where the dike turns inland and parallels the stream on both sides for several miles, leaving Fisheating Creek as
140-408: A levee. Areas with no surface protection are more prone to erosion. A levee grazed by certain types of animals, like sheep , can show trails used by the animals where grass does not grow. Trees in levees are a special risk. A tree can become unstable after the soil of the levee has become saturated with water. When the tree falls the root system will likely take a chunk of the saturated soil out of
168-455: A personal inspection of the area by President Herbert Hoover , the Corps drafted a new plan which provided for the construction of floodway channels, control gates, and major levees along Lake Okeechobee's shores. A long term system was designed for the purpose of flood control, water conservation, prevention of saltwater intrusion, and preservation of fish and wildlife populations. In the 1930s,
196-635: A storm, overflowing the river dikes and submerging approximately 300 square kilometres (100 sq mi) of land in the Netherlands . Estimates of people having died range from 2,000 to 10,000. Parts of the submerged lands have still not been reclaimed resulting in the Biesbosch wetlands. During the North Sea flood of 1953 , in the night of 31 January – 1 February 1953, many dikes in the provinces of Zeeland , South Holland and North Brabant in
224-406: Is a situation where a levee (or dyke) fails or is intentionally breached , causing the previously contained water to flood the land behind the levee. Man-made levees can fail in a number of ways. The most frequent (and dangerous) form of levee failure is a breach . A levee breach is when part of the levee actually breaks away, leaving a large opening for water to flood the land protected by
252-633: Is experienced thru the levee. In 1999, the Corps developed a plan to rehabilitate the HHD. The plan was approved in 2000 and divided the 143 mile embankment into eight reaches with the initial focus on Reach 1. This Reach by Reach rehabilitation approach has been replaced with a system wide risk reduction approach as required for safety modifications to dams. 26°43′52″N 80°51′32″W / 26.73111°N 80.85889°W / 26.73111; -80.85889 Dike breach A levee breach or levee failure (also known as dyke breach or dyke failure )
280-621: The Netherlands were unable to withstand the combination of spring tide and a northwesterly storm. The resulting flood killed 1,835 people. A further 307 people were killed by dike breaches in the United Kingdom , in the counties of Lincolnshire , Norfolk , Suffolk and Essex . In the Netherlands this flood was a main reason for the construction of the Delta Works , probably the most innovative and extensive levee system in
308-635: The United States Army Corps of Engineers is the Federal agency responsible for levee design and construction as defined in the Flood Control Act of 1965 and subject to local participation requirements, some of which were later waived. Fault has been aimed at the Corps of Engineers, their local contractors, and local levee boards. The St. Elizabeth's flood of 1421 was caused by a surge of seawater being forced upriver during
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#1732780380948336-503: The Standard Project Flood (SPF) level, approximately an event occurring once in 935 years. However, investigations conducted in the 1980s and early 1990s of the dike system's potential seepage and stability problems resulted in the identification of two major areas of concern: the seepage and embankment stability at the culvert locations, and the problematic foundation conditions of the dike. During high water events piping
364-467: The cycle of flooding by putting a dike around it prevents it from being raised by silt left behind after a flood. At the same time the drained soil consolidates and peat decomposes leading to land subsidence . In this way the difference between the water level on one side and land level on the other side of the dike grows. In some areas reclaimed land is given back to nature by breaching and removing dikes to allow flooding to occur (again). This restores
392-553: The environment. This has also led to the recent algae bloom (2016) by preventing the natural flow of rivers from the lake to flush the algae out to sea. Decades of runoff from agricultural and other land uses have exacerbated the water quality issues in Lake Okeechobee. The Herbert Hoover Dike (HHD) is a component of the Central and Southern Florida (C&SF) Project for Flood Control and other Purposes. The C&SF project
420-674: The flooding of New Orleans . Again during record-breaking flooding in 2011, the US Army Corps of Engineers blew up a section of a Mississippi River levee with dynamite to open the New Madrid Floodway. The floodway was used for farming and had about 200 residents at the time. The levee at Bird's Point was designed to be removed if necessary so that Mississippi water levels would be lowered, taking pressure off levees for miles upstream in more populated areas such as Cairo, Illinois , and New Madrid, Missouri . Taking land from
448-616: The levee foundations causing the levee wall to shift and resulting in catastrophic sudden breaching. The sudden breaching released water at a high velocity that moved houses off their foundations and tossed cars into trees. This happened in the Lower Ninth Ward when the Industrial Canal breached and also in the Lakeview neighborhood when the 17th Street Canal breached. At least 1,464 people perished. In New Orleans,
476-422: The levee into the liquefied foundation below. Some engineers think that boils lead to a form of internal erosion called piping which undermines the levee, but others consider them a symptom of generalized instability of the foundation. Surface erosion of the surface of a levee is usually caused by the action of wind and water (waves but also normal flow). Erosion can be worsened by pre-existing or new damage to
504-429: The levee. A breach can be a sudden or gradual failure that is caused either by surface erosion or by a subsurface failure of the levee. Levee breaches are often accompanied by levee boils, or sand boils . The underseepage resurfaces on the landside, in the form of a volcano-like cone of sand. Boils signal a condition of incipient instability which may lead to erosion of the levee toe or foundation or result in sinking of
532-423: The levee. Overtopping can lead to significant landside erosion of the levee or even be the mechanism for complete breach. Often levees are armored or reinforced with rocks or concrete to prevent erosion and failure. After a levee breach a kolk lake can often be seen. This is a crater -like depression just behind the breach where soil and other material has been violently scoured out by the rushing water. After
560-561: The levee. This shallow hole can quickly erode and result in a breach. If the tree falls in the water and floats away it can damage the levee further downstream. Floating trees near levees should be quickly removed by the agency responsible for the maintenance of the levee. Other forms of damage can be caused by ships or other (large) floating objects or from objects in the levee, like traffic signs or fences that are damaged or completely removed by wind or water. Barbed wire fences can collect large amounts of floating plant material, resulting in
588-571: The natural environment in the area. This happened in the Glory River in Iraq. The words levee and levee breach were brought heavily into the public consciousness after the levee failures in metro New Orleans on August 29, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina passed east of the city. Levees breached in over 50 different places submerging 80 percent of the city. Most levees failed due to water overtopping them but some failed when water passed underneath
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#1732780380948616-566: The need for additional flood protection work. As a result, the United States Congress passed the Flood Control Act of 1948 authorizing the first phase of the C&;SF project, a comprehensive plan to provide flood protection and other water control benefits in central and south Florida. By the late 1960s the new dike system was completed, raising the elevation of the levees to a maximum +41 feet, NGVD. This provides protection to
644-402: The only remaining free-flowing tributary of Lake Okeechobee. The cost of construction was about US$ 165 million. The dike is now about 30 feet (9.1 meters) high on average. This should be sufficient to protect against future storm surges or flooding; however, there are some concerns that the dike is falling into disrepair. The Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail , a bicycle path running atop the dike,
672-451: The original embankments in 1926 and 1928 causing over 3,000 deaths. The River and Harbor Act of 1930 authorized the construction of 67.8 miles of levee along the south shore of Lake Okeechobee and 15.7 miles of levee along the north shore. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed the levees between 1932 and 1938 with crest heights ranging from +32 to +35 feet, National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD). A major hurricane in 1947 prompted
700-543: The projects approved in the bill was $ 110,450,000. The bill also increased the maximum annual expenditure on repair and maintenance from $ 1,000,000 to $ 2,000,000 with no more than $ 100,000 being spent on any one location. $ 62,000,000 was allotted to the Secretary of the Army to make improvements and $ 10,000,000 was allotted to the Army and Department of Agriculture to conduct surveys and examinations. Lastly $ 25,000,000 million
728-473: The world. Flood Control Act of 1948 The Flood Control Act of 1948 was passed by the United States Congress on June 30, 1948, giving the Chief of Engineers the power to authorize minor flood control projects without having to get Congressional approval. It also authorized several larger flood control projects and amended the budget set forth in the Flood Control Act of 1946 . The estimated cost of
756-725: Was authorized in the Flood Control Act of 1948 , 1954, 1960, 1965, and 1968; authorization in 1970 under Section 201 of the Flood Control Act of 1965 ; the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1996 and 2007; and the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1930 . The HHD system consists of approximately 143 miles of levee surrounding Lake Okeechobee , with 32 culverts, hurricane gates and other water control structures. The first embankments around Lake Okeechobee were constructed by local interests from sand and muck, circa 1915. Hurricane tides overtopped
784-573: Was dedicated in 1993. The trail began as the ' Okeechobee Segment of the Florida National Scenic Trail (FNST), and is part of a 1,000 mile trail between Miami and Pensacola. A short video history of the Herbert Hoover Dike produced by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , titled USACE: Lake Okeechobee and the Herbert Hoover Dike . Over the years, issues with flood control around the lake have caused damage to
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