DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Health officials are in the process of testing beaches in Miami-Dade County for red tide.
The development was confirmed by the Miami-Dade’s Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources Office, Tuesday.
This comes just a day after the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission confirmed beaches in Deerfield Beach were also being tested for red tide. Those results are expected to come back by Wednesday.
People in Deerfield Beach said they can already tell a difference.
“If you hang out here about 15 minutes, you’ll get a cough,” said John Rojas.
Those walking around the beach Tuesday night are worried.
“We haven’t gone in the water yet. That’s why we’ve been asking around because we want to go in the water, but we’ve kind of been skeptical about it because we heard about the red tide,” said Juliana Romanello, who is visiting South Florida.
“I’m definitely very concerned because my son actually likes the beach, so that’s definitely concerning,” added Shenae Murray, a concerned local resident.
If red tide is discovered, the city said it will close the fishing pier and put up the red “no swimming” flags at the beach.
https://twitter.com/DFB_City/status/1046876239556960256
The testing in Broward and Miami-Dade counties stemmed from results that found red tide in Palm Beach County.
Officials tested the water in Miami-Dade just off of 79th Street, near Haulover Beach and 22nd Street. Those results are also expected to come back on Wednesday.
Over in Deerfield Beach, officials tested the waters Monday night after about a dozen people complained of respiratory issues after going to the beach.
Many red tides produce toxic chemicals that can impact marine life and humans. Karenia Brevis, the organism that causes red tide, releases an odorless toxin into the air that can cause respiratory irritation, including coughing, sneezing and an itchy throat.
“You don’t really want to be coughing all the time, so you’re probably not going to want to come to the beach because it might be hazardous for your health,” Rojas said. “If it’s killing the fish, what do you think it might be doing to you?”
Karen Grant who is visiting South Florida said she knew something was wrong.
“As soon as we started driving on the A1A from Fort Lauderdale Airport, as soon as I rolled down the window, I had this big gust of [coughs],” Grant said. “I was like, ‘What the heck,’ and I just could not stop coughing.”
Natural resource administrator Nicole Sharp said if red tide is found in Broward County, they do not expect it to stay for a long time.
“It’s actually quite rare to have it on this side of the state. Very few times we’ve seen it, but it’s most likely come from the Gulf Coast through the loop current and moved through the Florida Straights,” Sharp said, “and then we had a very high wave, high wind activity weekend. It came from offshore into our near-shore waters.”
For more information on Red Tide and conditions around the state, visit FWC’s website.
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