AMARILLO, TEXAS -- "This is unusual. We've never seen it before", says local citizen Jeff Young who summed up what seemed to be the general consensus for a lot of people taking a stroll around Medi Park Lake in Amarillo Wednesday morning.
Around 500 fish floating belly up naturally raised a few eyebrows. Low oxygen levels in the water plus the recent storms were the culprit.
"When the storm water came in with the recent rain there was some debris that came with that storm water and so the low oxygen levels an the debris really put a stress of the fish and so because of that stress we experienced some dieback" says" said Amarillo Parks and Recreation Director Larry Offerdahl.
Medi Park has been a favorite walking place for Young for years.
"It's nice, it's calm, it's quiet and I need the exercise", said Young.
But Wednesday's scenery was a little out of the ordinary.
"What I could see down there, there's 50, 60, 80 fish down there", adds Young.
And of course water contamination was a concern, so testing crews were at the lake Wednesday morning to check it out.
"Texas Parks and Wildlife came out and also our water quality lab came out from the city of Amarillo and tested it", says Offerdahl.
After testing the water, officials say the water in Medi Park is not contaminated and this lake is still a safe place to catch your next fish. While storms have caused Medi Park to lost more that 500 fish, thankfully, it may be the last big dieback we see for a while.
"Because of the storm, levels are back up almost to normal and so we feel oxygen levels will be back up to normal in a day or so" continued Offerdahl.
Parks and Recreation crews spent all day cleaning up the dead fish and the lake is expected to be completely picked up in the next few days.
