Post Hurricane Relief Hydrographic Surveys

This survey was performed to evaluate the hurricane damage on approximately 34.65 miles of South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) canals following the hurricanes in 2003 and 2004. The canals surveyed included the C-24, C-25, L-63N, L-63S, L-65 and C-59 leading into Lake Okeechobee. An Odom Hydrotrac Echo Sounder along with HYPACK software linked to a Topcon dual frequency Global Positioning System (GPS) Receiver was utilized to provide the canal profiles and all topographic information below the water line. Elevations were linked with ellipsoid heights and corrected within the HYPACK software to provide direct orthometric heights on the canal bottom. Cross sections above the water line were performed utilizing a combination of GPS along with conventional survey methodology and were carried to the outside toe-of-slope of the existing levees on each side of the canal. Bottom soundings were taken at 1,000-foot intervals by conventional means as a QA/QC method of “ground truthing” the final deliverable. The terrestrial survey, along with the hydrographic survey, was combined to produce one continuous digital terrain model as part of the final submittal.