South Florida Dike Poses Grave Danger, Engineers Say

An alarming engineering report on the 140-mile (225-kilometer) dike around Florida's Lake Okeechobee has prompted emergency management officials to prepare evacuation plans for 40,000 residents living near the lake.

Consulting engineers Leslie Bromwell, Robert Dean, and Stephen Vick wrote in their April report that the Herbert Hoover Dike poses a grave and imminent danger to the people and the environment of south Florida.

The engineers say the dike, which is about 250 feet (76 meters) wide at its base, could fail during a hurricane or even if the lake level becomes too high.

At 730 square miles (1,900 square kilometers), Okeechobee is the second-largest freshwater lake in the continental United States, behind only to Lake Michigan.