FL

Storm restoration across Glades County

Glades County is a rural inland county bordering Lake Okeechobee, which defines its primary storm hazard: potential catastrophic freshwater flooding if the Herbert Hoover Dike were to overtop or breach during a major hurricane. During Hurricane Irma (2017), the county sustained Category 1 sustained winds, 33 structures were destroyed and over 900 suffered major or minor damage, and rainfall flooding lingered for more than a week across farmland and residences. An EF3 tornado touched down in the county during Hurricane Milton (2024), underscoring the elevated tornado risk from landfalling Gulf storms tracking across the Florida peninsula. Because the county has no Gulf or Atlantic coastline, direct storm surge from open water is not a threat, but lake surge from Lake Okeechobee and extended inland freshwater flooding from slow-moving tropical systems are the dominant post-storm hazards.