Florida dike may not survive next hurricane

Waterbury Republican-American ^ | May 3, 2006 | associated press

[VRWCmember]

The dike keeping the nation's second-largest lake from overflowing has a high chance of failing in the event of another hurricane and poses "a grave and imminent danger," according to a state-hired panel of engineering experts.

Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday he was worried about the report, which noted that the dike has a one in six chance of being breached in the event of a hurricane.

One in six = high chance?

If you are standing on second base with two outs and the guy at the plate is batting .167, you have a LOW chance of scoring, not a high chance.

If you have one roll of one die and a SIX will win you $1,000,000 but any other result means you lose, you have a HIGH chance of walking away no richer than when you played and only a LOW chance of becoming a millionaire.

[MplsSteve]

I've seen this dike before and have stood on it. It's an absolute marvel of engineering.

But I'm wondering. If there was a problem with the Hoover dike before, I wonder why it hasn't been brought up sooner?

Fot those of you out there who want more info on the 1928 hurricane, click on this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1928_Okeechobee_Hurricane

[rattrap]

Yeah I guess it would depend on whether she had that title before or after experiencing said "prowess"

[edpc]

In a somewhat related subject, Martina is rumored to be joining the men's tennis circut and playing under the name "Tom Petty."

[TET1968]

"I've seen this dike before and have stood on it. It's an absolute marvel of engineering."

Can't we just all get along?

[Paradox]

I always suggest a visit to Lake Okechobee, for visitors to South Florida. It is amazing and quite beautiful.

[JoeSixPack1]

Every single day there are umpteeth morononic eviroNAZI's bitching and moaning and complaining and attacking the Lake Okeechobee Water Management District for allowing TOO MUCH drain off into the St. Lucie waterway.

Every option these wackos can think of to stop the fresh water flow back into the Atlantic is used. From brackish water contamination to high oxigination to endangered species to etc., etc.

The City, County and State have given in to these jerks and reduced the drainage to a daily trickle.

The safety net is attainable, but the greens won't allow it.

[vetvetdoug]

That dyke has already failed. This is news?

[MplsSteve]

I agree. It's a part of Florida that has more in common with the Deep South than it does "Miami Vice" or "CSI: Miami".

I stopped at several towns (Clewiston, Belle Glade) and found it interesting, especially the burning of the sugar cane fields during harvest. The whole area struck me as pretty poor too.

[Digger]

The infrastructure of America is collapsing & GW is sending aids money to Africa, etc.

[Ignatz]

Lake Okeechobee is surrounded by the 143-mile Herbert Hoover dike, which was built in the 1950s in part to prevent another disaster such as the 1928 hurricane.

In that hurricane, flooding and storm surge from the lake killed more than 2,000 people.

Let me be the first: Bush's fault!

[ARCADIA]

What makes you think GW works for America, or Americans?

[Grampa Dave]

I knew that someone like you would post Jake Reno's picture on this thread.

To bad her health is so bad, that she might not survive the next hurricane.

This has to be Bush's fault.

[cartographer]

When you look at the odds, you have to consider the downside. The last time the lake flooded, 2000 people died. I would imagine that the number would be much higher today, and the property damage would be immense.

Would you play Russian roulette if someone offered you $50,000 if you survived?

[jackieaxe]

Why is this a federal responsibility? Because Jeb is the President's brother?

[ContemptofCourt]

You need to put odds in perspective. For instance, I was taking a medication and had a 5% chance of getting acute lukemia from the medication. Sounds like low odds, but not odds that I was willing to risk my life on.

Likewise, a 16% chance of catastrophic failure is pretty high odds in the world of construction.

[KarinG1]

I hope she'll be okay. Maybe Jeb should ask Janet Reno to go in and reinforce her.

[george wythe]

Donna Shalala became President of the University of Miami on June 1, 2001

[gleeaikin]

"Belle Glade....The whole area struck me as pretty poor too."

Yes, I have traveled on both sides of the lake, and it is settled by a lot of retirees and others with limited income. There are lots of trailers, and very small houses. For what it is worth Rosy O'Donnell has a 24,000 sq. ft. home in Miami. That is where the money is for both Republicans and Democrats. Perhaps the poorer residents of the Lake O area don't rate the same kind of care and attention. Ask the Katrina survivors trying to rebuild on the coasts of Ala. Miss. and La. what kind of help they are getting.

Interesting historical aside, Belle Glade was the epicenter of the heterosexual phase of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980's. Apparently, it was spread by long distance truckers and a thriving prostitution presence in Belle Glade. This is also an important mode of transmission in many parts of Africa. Can't we all just stay at home?

[JoeSixPack1]

Why is this a federal responsibility?

Do you mean besides the fact that every lake in central Florida drains into Lake O and that the Army Corps of Engineers built dams at every flow point and have been controlling the water flow manually for the last 75 years? Where before the ACoE a natural flow worked perfectly for a few thousand years.

Yeah, let's blame Bush.(/sarc)