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 moccasins. Belle Glade suffered the most deaths of any city by far, with 611 fatalities confirmed. After the dike at Lake Okeechobee failed, water reached at least above ground in portions of Belle Glade. At the Glades Hotel, water entered the lobby and rose so rapidly that the last two people to reach the second floor nearly drowned in the stairwell. The Glades Hotel was the only building in the city left intact. The first floor of the Belle Glade Hotel was also flooded, forcing the occupants up to the second floor. They were then exposed to the wind and