Homeowners in one Hollywood neighborhood say they’re alarmed and frustrated by a canal behind their homes that has suddenly turned a murky brown and is now filled with dead fish.

CBS News Miami learned about the issue through a viewer email and spoke exclusively with neighbors who shared disturbing photos and described their horror at the unfolding situation.

When CBS News Miami visited the canal Friday in the eastern part of Hollywood off Grant Street, a dead fish floated by as the crew was filming. Video from Drone 4 showed the scale of the problem, with dozens of homes lining the discolored waterway.

Neighbors said the water turned brown about four days ago. While similar issues have happened in the past, they say this is the worst they’ve seen.

Residents describe what they’re seeing: “It breaks my heart”

“It’s just horrible,” said neighbor Joanne Chinelly. “It breaks my heart to see them dead. I used to feed them. We feed the tarpon and I have not seen any tarpon. It upsets me because there is a little ecosystem that has been here since the 1950s. It smells now like dead fish.”

“You used to be able to see all the way down. You can’t right now,” she added. “It would mean the world to me to resolve this.”

Another neighbor, Vanesa Dabul, showed CBS News Miami photos of how clear the water used to be, with underwater vegetation visible.

“It’s awful,” she said. “It’s our backyard. This happens once or twice a year. After a while, it goes away.”

Neighbors say runoff and plumbing work may be factors

Dabul said she has been looking into possible causes and believes several factors may be contributing, including sediment runoff from at least one nearby construction site.

“There’s a water facility not too far away and so when the city does any type of plumbing project, all the canals are connected,” she said. “This canal is connected to the ocean through canals. We know the solution. There needs to be some sort of system to get more oxygen for the fish.”

Broward County investigating

A spokesman for Broward County’s Public Works and Environmental Services Department told CBS News Miami they are investigating the situation. He said possible factors include the recent drop in temperatures and sediment runoff from a construction site. An employee from the department was on scene on Friday morning.

CBS News Miami heard from a City of Hollywood spokeswoman, who said the canal was actually inside a private development and not within the city’s jurisdiction. She also said the city did some investigating and found there was nothing leaking within the city’s infrastructure that would be causing this problem.

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