FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Soviet-era buoy washed up on a Florida beach after Hurricane Irma swept through the area and officials say it likely came from Cuba.
The SunSentinel reports the 1,200-pound buoy that surfaced off Dania Beach recently includes Russian writing that translates to “Hydrometrical Service of the USSR.” The Soviet Union had close ties with Cuba during the Cold War.
Authorities say such buoys are used to measure wave height, weather variables like temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, or atmospheric pressure. They also may have been used as navigation aids.
A spokeswoman for a division of Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington says two engineers came to check out the buoy. But officials say it belongs to the state because it was found on a Florida beach.
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