KISSIMMEE LAKE DRAWDOWN UNDERWAY

In anticipation of the upcoming hurricane season, Florida water management officials have begun their annual drawdown of 17 lakes in the Kissimmee Basin, near Orlando.

Bill Graf, a spokesman for the Tohopekaliga Water Management District said last year’s drawdown of Lake Tohopekaliga to remove muck was perfectly timed. He said lowering the water created additional storage capacity in the lake system beyond its normal summer levels thus preventing significant flooding. The lake was four-and-a-half feet lower last August than it normally would have been.

“Had that not happened, flooding would have been more dramatic and widespread,” Graf told the Osceola News-Gazette. Several other lakes in the system also had to be lowered, some by three or more feet, to create significant additional storage capacity.

The district is developing improved modeling and automated monitoring systems for Boggy, Reedy and Shingle creeks. Graf said that none of the waterways have flood control structures and there is significant nearby residential and commercial development.