Algae bloom spreads across St. Johns River

"When I first reported this, it was pea soup!" That's how Sam Carr described the algae bloom in the St. Johns River by his dock in San Mateo in Putnam County. He first noticed it in early April.

He's lived on the St. Johns River for 50 years.

"It was really thick," he remembered.

Wednesday, Carr looked at the St. Johns River in downtown Palatka.

The algae bloom wasn't as bad there, but he could still see it. At Carr's home where the algae are in chunks, he can even smell it.

"I could tell it was affecting me. It gave me a headache," he said.

The water management district has been testing the St. Johns River since people started filing reports of algae concerns this month. So far the results have shown toxins.