 The weather was unremarkable for two years . In 1928 , construction was completed on the Tamiami Trail , named because it was the only road spanning between Tampa and Miami . The builders attempted to construct the road several times before they blasted the muck down to the limestone , filled it with rock and paved over it . Hard rains in the summer caused Lake Okeechobee to rise several feet ; this was noticed by a local newspaper editor who demanded it be lowered . However , on September 16 , 1928 came a massive storm , now known as the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane . Thousands drowned when Lake Okeechobee breached its levees ; the range of estimates of the dead spanned from 1 @,@ 770 ( according to the Red Cross ) to 3 @,@ 000 or more . Many were swept away and never recovered . The majority of the dead were black migrant workers who had recently settled in or near Belle Glade . The catastrophe made national news , and although the governor again refused aid , after he toured the area and counted 126 bodies still <unk> or <unk> a week after the storm , he activated the National Guard to assist in the <unk> , and declared in a telegram : " Without exaggeration , the situation in the storm area <unk> description " . 
