Late last week, Florida issued hurricane warnings from Boca Raton to the Volusia-Flagler county line regarding Tropical Storm Isaias. The storm brought significant rainfall and high winds to South Florida and the Treasure Coast on Saturday and Sunday. As a result there were some power outages and riptides off area beaches. Fortunately, South Florida did not experience major damage from Tropical Storm Isaias, however marine life was affected.
According to Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton, they believe about 20% of their nests were lost during the storm. That is equivalent to about 150 nests with unhatched turtle eggs.
Officials said some of the 150 nests could still have eggs underneath the sand but just the markings could have been lost.
Gumbo Limbo mentioned that they still have 400 undisturbed sea turtle nests, which includes 5 new nests.
Due to the fact that the storm never reached hurricane status, the manager of Gumbo Limbo said they lost more nests during Isaias than they thought they would have.
“It was early in the season. Normally the storms that impact us are late August and September, and by then 80% of our nests have hatched and are off the beach,” said Leanne Welch, manager of Gumbo Limbo.
Welch also mentioned that they tend to see wash back turtles after hurricanes, which are hatchlings who make it to the ocean but aren’t strong enough and eventually wash back to shore.
If you find a wash back turtle, call Gumbo Limbo’s emergency line at 561-212-8691