Small towns around Lake Okeechobee have been feeling the effects of record rainfall.
The Vice Mayor of Belle Glade in Palm Beach County urged water managers to keep her residents’ safety in mind Thursday.
The South Florida Water Management District used two pumps last weekend on the south side of Lake Okeechobee to reduce water levels in the adjacent canals to prevent significant urban flooding in Belle Glade.
The town’s Vice Mayor Mary Wilkerson told water managers she’s thankful the district back pumped.
“The people I represent sleep better knowing the levy is being repaired,” she said. “In a big rain like we had last week the water just sits in our cities until you finally turn on the pumps the Corps built for us sixty years ago. Nevertheless I want to thank you for operating the pumps when you did. It may not be good as what they have on the east coast but it is all that we have and it works when you use it. Please don’t forget about us when you are debating that about back pumping.”
Belle Glade was nearly wiped out in 1928 after a hurricane broke the lake’s dike.
The lake is now at its highest level since 2005, causing the Army Corps of Engineers to send the polluted water out of Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee River. It’s now caused discolored water at the mouth of the river and around Sanibel.