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 September 17, informing them that the damage had been "exaggerated". The board even considered protesting news agencies that write "exaggerated" reports and warned that there would be requests for retraction. Knight was harshly criticized for marginalizing the disaster, with Palm Beach County Red Cross Chairman Howard Shelby responding with a telegraph stating, "If you serve as a spokesman for the entire state, won't you kindly make a personal visit here?", while the "Okeechobee News" called Knight "a jackass". To prevent a recurrence of disasters such as the Okeechobee hurricane and the 1926 Miami hurricane, the Florida Legislature created the Okeechobee