Saint Petersburg

Milton grew quickly into a Category 5 storm Monday morning and is forecast to make landfall in Florida midweek.

The hordes of fish were killed by a red tide, a large "bloom" of toxic algae that appears on Florida's Gulf Coast about once a year. Experts say the bloom shouldn't be happening right now.

Florida's governor has declared a state of emergency after a significant leak at a large storage pond of wastewater threatened to flood roads and burst a system that stores polluted waters.

"Camphor Trees typically seem healthy in this region and are invasive. Massive simultaneous failure of most branches seems unusual."

Red tide has contributed to or is suspected in the deaths of nearly 190 manatees so far this year.

Red tide is officially impacting Pinellas County. Crews have picked up a total of 33.48 tons of dead fish and hauled them off to the county dump.

The toxic algae bloom has already been named as the killer or suspected killer of more than 100 manatees since the spring.

Southwest Florida is reeling from a toxic algae bloom called red tide. Hundreds of tons of dead fish are washing up on beaches.

On a more helpful note, fish farts also are giving researchers and managers clues about fish distributions.