The toxic algae crisis in Lake Okeechobee is worse than it was the last time our partners at LightHawk shared a flyover with us.

Pilot Howard Greenberg captured video on June 23 of a festering bloom piled up at the gates of Port Mayaca and streaked through the open waters of Lake Okeechobee just beyond that. That’s bad news for Florida residents that are already on edge after recent reports of a dog that died after ingesting toxic algae and more than 120,000 residents in Palm Beach County were warned not to drink their tap water, which was contaminated with toxins caused by blue-green algae.

As we continue to document the visible changes by air, be sure to keep up with our ongoing coverage of LOSOM — the process that has stakeholders from across the state weighing in to help the Army Corps of Engineers choose a Lake Okeechobee management plan that will protect us from exposure to blooms like these in the future.