PLUM BRANCH, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - A harmful algal bloom on Strom Thurmond Lake led to a warning from the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services.

The agency on Wednesday issued a “recreational advisory” for a cove in McCormick County off Yacht Club Drive in Plum Branch.

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The agency was notified of the problem by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Nov. 20.

Water samples collected from the area on Monday found cyanobacteria capable of producing cyanotoxins, otherwise known as blue-green algae.

Concentrations exceeding the state’s recreational water quality standard for the cyanotoxin microcystin, a p

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