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Red tide: Relief as beaches reopen

Posted at 9:34 PM, Oct 05, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-07 08:48:46-04

Beaches reopened Friday in Palm Beach County, to the relief of beachgoers and nearby businesses ahead of the weekend amid concern during the ongoing red tide crisis.   

“It makes us really happy to be back here,” said Sandra Almanza from Palm Beach County, who’s at the Lake Worth Beach with her parents. “It feels great but not great at the same time because we feel really scratchy throats, we’re coughing. We don’t see anything but you can definitely still feel the effects of red tide.”

Raine Teel has walked her Chihuahua Nelson along the Lake Worth Beach area every day this week. Friday has been the best day yet. 

“It feels like it’s subsided. It feels better,” she said about the red tide. 

At Benny’s on the Beach, business goes as the beach goes. 

“Oh it’s been up and down,” said Justin McCall, General Manager at Benny’s, about the week. 

“With the beaches just reopening, we’re hoping to have a really great weekend, a really bang out weekend,” he said. 

“That’s great for the business here because we’re big supporters of local business, so if we can keep our oceans clean and available than people will keep coming here,” Almanza said.

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Normal is getting closer as the beaches come back to life. 

“Lotta times you don’t have time to do a lot of things. This week we’ve caught up to doing a lot of those other things and now things are focused on food and service,” McCall said. 

Officials will continue to monitor the beaches and water.