CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. — As Charlotte County beaches remain closed in the wake of Hurricane Milton, the county is planning beach replenishment projects. At the same time, red tide formations were detected on the coasts of the district.

Two of Charlotte County’s beaches, Englewood Beach and Charlotte Beach Park, were severely impacted by Hurricane Milton. Englewood Beach on Manasota Key was particularly affected as storm surge disrupted the shoreline and deposited sand across the island.

Watch Fox 4’s Alex Orenczuk report on Charlotte County’s beaches:

Charlotte County beaches remain closed for repairs, red tide appears on beach

Following Hurricane Helene, the county began using the Englewood Beach parking lot as a sand drop-off area where homeowners and contractors could bring accumulated sand onto their properties.

Now, three weeks after Milton, the pile of sand that has reached several stories high is being eliminated.

“There are several thousand cubic yards of sand in the parking lot and it’s being sifted right now,” said Brian Gleason, the county’s communications director. “Only a small portion of the sand from the car park has been sifted, but this will take a long time to do. “This is an $8 million job and it will take some time.”

Fox 4.

Once sifted, the sand will be put back on the beach as part of a re-nourishing project, but before that can happen, the beach itself will need to be raked for debris. He said the beach will remain closed for now.

“There could be nails, there could be glass, there could be branches; it’s not a safe place, so we’re asking people to stay away from there,” Gleason said.

While the county deals with coastal hazards, red tide events have been detected offshore.

Charlotte County Water Quality Manager Brandon Moody said the blooms are being monitored. Additional samples are being taken to see if blooms are moving closer to the shoreline.

“At this point, given the levels we’re seeing right now, we’re just keeping an eye on it right now,” Moody said. “We received some anecdotal reports of dead fish and some respiratory irritation around Lemon Bay earlier this week, so today (Oct. 31) we have contractors collecting samples from various locations around Lemon Bay.”

Fox 4.

Moody said sampling results can be found at: FWC Red Tide Current Status Map. Additional samples will be taken to monitor the severity of bloom.

“If it gets big enough, it could affect fish and birds,” Moody said. “So we’re watching and seeing how this progresses. They can vary wildly in intensity, we may experience a very low-grade bloom, it may come and go, or it may return and get worse.