National Public Radio: Residents of the towns that line the southern rim of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee know about the benefits and risks of living next to one of the nation’s largest freshwater lakes. Many have relatives who survived the massive flood of 1926 — and another, two years later, when a Category 4 hurricane blew through the area. Old mud dikes failed, killing at least 2,500 people. In 2005, the failure of levees in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina hit led authorities to re-evaluate the …