ST JAMES CITY, Fla. — Hurricanes Helene and Milton left much of our coastlines suffering, whether it was from destruction or high bacteria levels, and now Lee County residents could soon be seeing... and smelling... red tide.
"On Pine Island Sound and south near Sanibel, I'm pretty nervous," said Susan Dahod, a leader ranger with the Calusa Waterkeepers. "I think we're going to start to see fish kills on the beaches."
Watch Bella's full report below:
Susan Dahod has been sampling Tropical Point Park and other sites since the storms, and her findings at Tropical Point Park were shocking.
"They'll [FDOH] close the beach when the bacteria counts get to 70. This site was over 2000…" said Dahod.
Dahod says this is the highest bacterial level they have recorded in all of Lee County.
She says since the Department of Health doesn't survey this spot, they have taken it into their own hands to warn the public of spots like this that could be missed.
"Viruses, you've heard a little bit about the flesh-eating bacteria, those all tend to correlate with high bacteria counts," said Dahod. "By correlate, I mean, you don't necessarily cause them, but when the FIB [Fecal Indicator Bacteria] counts are high, everything is high."
Dahod says the Calusa Waterkeepers are working to find a way to prevent the natural phenomenon of red tide and she says all the nutrients in the water could be feeding it.
"Most of Pine Island is on septic tanks so when the surge comes up, all that stuff kind of sloshes around and washes into the water," said Dahod.
Dahod says do not get in the water in this area because bacteria like this can cause an infection and be deadly to pets.
