Beaches closed after people complain of breathing and skin problems in Palm Beach County

Beaches from Jupiter Inlet to Carlin Park, as well as the Lake Worth Pier and Lake Worth beaches, are being closed as a precaution after “multiple people” complained of problems breathing and skin irritations Saturday afternoon.

People with respiratory allergies are urged to stay away from the beaches from Carlin Park north to the county line for the next 48 hours, according to an advisory the Palm Beach County Health Department issued about 90 minutes after the beach closures were first announced.

No contact with the water or the beaches is advised for those with respiratory allergies, the advisory said.

Officials with the state Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Fish and Wildlife, Palm Beach County, Environmental Resource Management and other state and local agencies are investigating the potential causes of the irritation, according to the health department.

Results will not be available for at least 48 hours and as a precaution the Health Department is issuing the health advisory.

Fire Rescue Capt. Al Borroto announced the closure about the 2.5-mile stretch of shoreline at 2:35 p.m., calling it a “developing situation.”

Martin County beachgoers were experiencing similar issues and the county’s Fire Rescue issued an advisory for Hobe Sound Beach and Bathtub Beach on its Facebook page soon after Palm Beach County’s.

Just before 7 p.m., the city of Lake Worth announced its pier and beach closures and urged everyone with respiratory allergies to say away from beach property.

The symptoms are similar to the “red tide” the west coast of Florida has been experiencing for nearly a year, peaking this summer. But the cause of the problems along north Palm Beach County’s coast is not yet known.

Brian LaPointe, who studies harmful algae blooms for Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, told the Palm Beach Post it’s unusual for the east coast to experience a red tide, but it can happen if the algae make it into the loop current that flows through the Florida Straits and into the Gulf Stream.

“We’ve seen it happen before, particularly during bad years on the west coast,” LaPointe said. “But typically, the red tide blooms on the east coast are not as intense.”

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