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Loxahatchee, FL - Engineers and heavy equipment crews from the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) today swiftly stopped water flowing from an Indian Trails Improvement District (ITID) berm that breached - but caused no damage - west of The Acreage in Palm Beach County.
By 11 a.m. today, the emergency operation lead by SFWMD's West Palm Beach Field Station had plugged the flow of water from the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area into an ITID outfall canal. Crews are working to rebuild the berm owned by ITID by the end of the weekend. The larger Corbett levee, recently built for the community by SFWMD, was not impacted.
"I am extremely proud of the fast and professional response by SFWMD field station staff to assist a community with an emergency in their water management system," said SFWMD Field Operations Bureau Chief Tom DeBold. "We had the equipment and expertise to get the job done."
SFWMD was notified Thursday afternoon about the 60-foot wide, 5-foot deep breach in a earthen berm that separates the southwest corner of Corbett and an ITID canal. An estimated 2,000 cubic yards of dirt was moved into the canal.
Immediately following the notification, operators at SFWMD's 24-hour control center in West Palm Beach began raising a nearby canal level to help stop the flow of water through the breach. At 6 a.m. today, engineering staff and crews arrived with a long-arm excavator and bulldozer, along with backup on standby at the SFWMD Okeechobee and Clewiston field stations.
Officials from the ITID and SFWMD will determine the cause of the breach.
