Bush to meet Homeland Security chief about Lake Okeechobee dike

TALLAHASSEE -- The dike keeping Lake Okeechobee from overflowing has a high chance of failing and poses "a grave and imminent danger to the people and the environment of South Florida," according to a state-hired panel of engineering experts.

Responding to the report released late Monday, Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday he was greatly worried about the possibility of the dike giving way during a hurricane. He said he would discuss that in a meeting Tuesday with Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff and the Federal Emergency Management Agency's head.

A failure of the dike would likely result in widespread devastation to the area, resulting in billions of dollars in damages, irreversible harm to the Everglades and a contamination of South Florida's drinking water supply, the report said.

Bush said the South Florida Water Management District hired the engineering experts to examine the 143-mile-long dike's ability to withstand hurricanes following damage it sustained from Hurricane Wilma last October.

He said he was also pushing for a quick solution to repair the Herbert Hoover Dike around the 730-square mile lake and was dispatching his own disaster preparedness chief for an update on the situation.

"Craig Fugate will be going down to the 'Glades area to talk about evacuation procedures," Bush said before a Cabinet meeting. "They all have to be modified."

Bush said the report noted that the dike has a one in six chance of being breached in the event of a hurricane. The dike was built after an estimated 2,500 people were killed when the lake spilled over after a 1928 hurricane.

"FEMA doesn't need any more breaches nor does the state of Florida," Bush said.