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 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The death toll was by far highest in the economically poor areas in the low-lying ground right around Lake Okeechobee, such as Belle Glade, Chosen, Miami Locks, Pahokee, and South Bay. Around 75% of the fatalities were among migrant farm workers, most of whom were African American. The African American men were ordered at gunpoint to collect bodies. One man was shot for refusing to do so. Despite Prohibition laws at the time, those searching and collecting bodies were given rations of bootleg whisky, which was provided by a local rum-runner.