Hurricane Michael brings new threat to Florida's victims: toxic red tide

Biologists fear that the storm surge carried with it red tide toxins that can cause respiratory distress and flu-like symptoms

If destroyed homes, lost livelihoods and mass power outages were not enough to be dealing with, Florida's victims of Hurricane Michael are facing another potential problem - the state's toxic red tide.

In the days leading up to the monster storm's landfall on Wednesday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) found cells of the Karenia brevis organism that causes red tide at two water sampling points close to Panama City and Mexico Beach where the storm swept ashore.