Restoration of the Everglades begins in the vicinity of Orlando. The Okeechobee River drains into Lake Okeechobee, a lake with an average depth of . During the wet season when the lake exceeds its capacity, the water leaves the lake in a very wide and shallow river, approximately long and wide. This wide and shallow flow is known as "sheetflow". The land gradually slopes toward Florida Bay, the historical destination of most of the water leaving the Everglades. Before drainage attempts, the Everglades comprised , taking up a third of the Florida peninsula. Since the early 19th century the Everglades have been a subject
Effects of the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane in Florida Flood Control District during its 1929 session, following a recommendation by U.S. Senator Duncan U. Fletcher, among other members of the state's congressional delegation. The Okeechobee Flood Control District authorized to cooperate with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in flood control undertakings. Proposals on other ways to prevent a recurrence of the 1926 and 1928 hurricanes were advanced, including "build[ing] a wall down there and keep the military there" in order to prevent further settlement in the area or constructing a dike. In January 1929, Fred C. Elliott explained during a Congressional hearing that because no state funds were