WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR OCT. 1, 2023
It’s been one year since Hurricane Ian hit Lee County at a strong Category 4 intensity causing more than 150 direct and indirect deaths and creating more than $112 billion in damage, making it the costliest hurricane in Florida’s history.
Every destructive hurricane must hit 111 mph to be considered a “major” tropical cyclone and, of course, the storms spin counter-clockwise in our part of the world. Otherwise, each hurricane is different.
Some do most of their damage due to the winds. Others due to its rainfall. Others due to how large or small it is. How fast or slow it's moving. And still others it's the deep, churning storm surge is the wrecking ball of the storm.
The latter was the case with Hurricane Ian, which produced a wall of water pushed up by a combination of meteorological and land-shape factors 15 feet or higher in places. Ian was a “storm surge” storm.
None of us here that day – the next day, the next week, the next month – will ever forget what the storm meant to each one of us.
Due to the crazy nature of, well, nature, for some near Cape Coral last year’s Hurricane Ian was a party. Cell phone video camera footage shows some folks watching the water in their canal out back rise four or five feet, a few tree limbs blow by, but other than a lack of power, a party it remained.
Too bad it wasn’t that way for everyone, because far too many people were fighting for their lives at the very same time.
Or they were watching their homes float away.
Or soon after the storm returning to find their homes intact, but a high-water mark five feet up the interior wall and everything they owned ruined. TVs, blankets, couches, dishes, socks, kitchen chairs, dog dishes, the washer and dryer – all of it caked in a muddy mixture of canal bottom, dirt, and road debris washed about by the slow-moving storm.
For most of us the destruction we witnessed will never leave our minds. I have chased hurricanes throughout Florida for 20 years, from Key West to Jacksonville to Pensacola, but I never had one land quite literally in my front yard.
Have you ever seen those pictures taken after a hurricane evacuation notice was issued, where all three lanes of a highway heading away from the shoreline are packed with evacuees in cars? They are moving at a snail’s pace to get away from the impending destruction forecast to hit their coast in mere hours, fearing for their lives.
There’s always that one car going in the other direction on a completely open highway, heading toward where the storm is going to hit. That was probably me …
… or a journalist like me heading to where the year’s biggest story is going to unfold to capture it first-hand.
After Ian, and not taking my profession into account, the destruction was mind-numbing and horrible. The large number of deaths is even more catastrophic, and so very sad. The piles of debris along both sides of the road I live on in South Cape Coral were filled ten feet high with what, yesterday, were my neighbors’ prized possessions.
However, as a weather-focused journalist looking at the raw power of Ian and what it did what I saw was amazing, fascinating, incredible, and yet it all made me feel very, very small all at the same time.
For most of us the destruction we witnessed will never leave our minds. I have chased hurricanes throughout Florida for 20 years, from Key West to Jacksonville to Pensacola, but I never had one land quite literally in my front yard
Each of us working at WGCU has our own recollections of what impacted us most, what we learned about big hurricanes, or what we saw in people’s resilience after the disaster up until this very day.
Under the tutelage of Emmy Award-winning Pam James, our executive producer, the entire staff created a documentary that just aired on PBS. Each of us discusses a facet of Ian that hit home with us, even as the storm literally hit many of our homes.
“After Ian” was a true labor of love showing some of what the hurricane taught each of us about storm surge, the heartfelt emotions of the 911 operators taking all those calls, and some of the special people who went through Ian and their resiliency and commitment to stay and rebuild. Watch it here.
Slowly, each reporter slid back into our beats. Mine, being Southwest Florida’s environment, was of particular interest (to me) because of things like the fact that Hurricane Ian washed so much debris into the Gulf of Mexico it changed the behavior of the water.
Red tides that most likely would not have happened without the nutrient pollution – keyword: “nutrient “- that washed into the Gulf of Mexico bloomed with unequaled regularity. (See top photo.)
Gulf-front home and business owners who already just got hammered by Ian were stymied in their efforts to return to a regular life a second time by the insistent red tide and the acrid odor is causes, as well as the smell of tons of rotting, dead fish on the beach.
There were dozens of red tide blooms. From Sarasota to Naples and everywhere in between. Not just for weeks or months, but throughout the winter.
But, eventually, the red tides stopped.
Then came the blue-green algae in the Caloosahatchee River.
Outbreak after outbreak, the green, slimy, gooey blooms kept coming. The Florida Department of Health put out no less than a dozen health advisories each time the toxic levels caused by the harmful algae bloom became high enough to cause illness in humans and their pets.
But in recent weeks the blue-green algae outbreaks have slowed.
Last week, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection took dozens of water samples through the Southwest Florida region and, other than a few sightings of some floating algae, the “toxic’ part of the noxious blue-green algae was not detected.
It’s now more than a year after Hurricane Ian. Not a day has gone by that one of us at WGCU has not produced a segment on a lingering facet of the storm.
And that will not change for quite some time.
But, slowly, we are moving away from Sept. 29, 2022.
With the extended red tides and blue-green algae outbreaks over, the sparkling water quality of our beaches and rivers is returning as proven by the details in this week’s Water Quality Report.
RED TIDE
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported that over the past week the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was observed at background concentrations in one water sample offshore of Collier County. Other samples collected statewide did not contain any red tide.
Last week, the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife hospital on Sanibel admitted two animals suffering from the toxic effects of red tide. A juvenile laughing gull died, and a juvenile white ibis is still being treated at CROW.
What is red tide?
Red tide is one type of harmful algal bloom caused by high concentrations of the toxic dinoflagellate K. brevis, which is a type of microscopic algae found in the Gulf of Mexico. Red tide typically forms naturally offshore, commonly in late summer or early fall, and is carried into coastal waters by winds and currents. Once inshore, these opportunistic organisms can use nearshore nutrient sources to fuel their growth. Blooms typically last into winter or spring, but in some cases, can endure for more than one year.
Is red tide harmful?
K. brevis produces potent neurotoxins (brevetoxins) that can be harmful to the health of both wildlife and people. Wind and wave action can break open K. brevis cells and release toxins into the air. This is why you should monitor conditions and stay away from beaches where red tide is in bloom. People in coastal areas can experience varying degrees of eye, nose and throat irritation during a red tide bloom. Some individuals with chronic respiratory conditions like asthma or chronic lung disease might experience more severe symptoms. Red tide toxins can also affect the central nervous system of fish and other marine life, which can lead to fish kills.
What causes red tide?
A red tide bloom develops naturally, but recent studies have discovered mankind's infusion of other nutrients into the mix can make the red tide last longer or get stronger. But biology (the organisms), chemistry (natural or man-made nutrients for growth), and physics (concentrating and transport mechanisms) interact to produce the algal bloom. No one factor causes the development of a red tide bloom.
BLUE-GREEN ALGAE
More than a dozen masses of blue-green algae were discovered by testing in the Caloosahatchee River from June through August, which prompted state officials to issue health advisories from the upper Caloosahatchee River to the lower, warning of the presence of the toxic organism throughout.
What is blue-green algae?
Blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, are a group of organisms that can live in freshwater, saltwater or brackish water. Large concentrations, called blooms, can change the water color to blue, green, brown, orange or red. Some cyanobacterial blooms can look like foam, scum, or mats on the surface of freshwater lakes and ponds. As algae in a cyanobacterial bloom die, the water may smell bad
Is blue-green algae harmful?
Different types of blue-green algal bloom species can look different and have different impacts. However, regardless of species, many types of blue-green algae can produce toxins that can make you or your pets sick if swallowed or possibly cause skin and eye irritation. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection advises staying out of water where algae is visibly present as specks or mats or where water is discolored. Pets or livestock should not come into contact with algal bloom-impacted water or with algal bloom material or fish on the shoreline. If they do, wash the animals immediately.
What causes blue-green algae?
Blue-green algae blooms occur when the algae that are normally present grow in numbers more than normal. Within a few days, a bloom can cause clear water to become cloudy. Winds tend to push some floating blooms to the shore where they become more noticeable. Cyanobacterial blooms can form in warm, slow-moving waters that are rich in nutrients. Blooms can occur at any time, but most often occur in late summer or early fall.
If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.
Environmental reporting for WGCU is funded in part by VoLo Foundation, a non-profit with a mission to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.
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