Okeechobee Waterway of Orlando and extending southward through the Kissimmee River Basin to the Everglades National Park to Florida Bay. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages five locks and dams along the Okeechobee Waterway. The St. Lucie lock was built in 1941 for navigation and flood-control purposes. In 1944, the connecting spillway structure was built for flood and regulatory flow control through the St. Lucie Canal to manage the water level in Lake Okeechobee. The Port Mayaca Lock and Dam was built in 1977 for navigation purposes, to permit the raising of water levels in Lake Okeechobee, and to moderate the
Effects of the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane in Florida Fort Lauderdale hurricane, as well as the passage of the Flood Control Act of 1948. The dike was complete in 1961. A ceremony held in Clewiston on January 12, 1961, included a speech from former President Herbert Hoover. Since its completion, the dike almost completely encloses the lake. The only gap is at Fisheating Creek – the mouth located in Glades County near Lakeport – where the dike turns inland and parallels the stream on both sides for several miles, leaving Fisheating Creek as the only remaining free-flowing tributary of Lake Okeechobee. Since at least the 1990s, concerns related to