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 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