Beaches in Miami-Dade and Broward counties are being tested for red tide after Florida officials confirmed the presence of the toxic algae off Palm Beach County on Monday.
Miami-Dade will sample water at four beaches on Tuesday, said Natural Resources Division Chief Lisa Spadafina, and should have results by Thursday. The county began sampling based on guidance from state officials, she said. The city of Deerfield Beach said water samples have already been collected and results expected on Wednesday.
Red tides occur rarely along Florida’s east coast because the algae that causes them incubate at the bottom of the Florida shelf off the state’s Gulf coast. But it’s now likely that a Gulf bloom that appeared nearly a year ago and slammed southwest Florida, closing beaches and littering shores with dead sea life, has been carried by currents around the coast.
Read more at our news partner, the Miami Herald.