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 Weather Bureau's predictions of the storm missing South Florida. He and his legionnaires warned residents in the Lake Okeechobee region of the approaching cyclone. At South Bay, Frank Schuster made several car trips to save 211 people by transporting them to higher ground. The Seminoles at the Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation in Glades County evacuated to higher ground after observing retreating wildlife. Hours before the storm made landfall, many in the communities surrounding Lake Okeechobee either crowded into a house or evacuated to the building they believed was securest, such as the Belle Glade Hotel, the Glades Hotel, and Henry