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'Strong odor' at Adventure Landing in Jacksonville Beach sends two to hospital

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — STORY: Michael Jackson's former elephant escapes enclosure at Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens

A chemical imbalance caused some guests at Adventure Landing in Jacksonville Beach to have respiratory issues Saturday afternoon.

A spokesperson said managers at the water park were notified by three guests of an odor coming from the lazy river at approximately 1:50 p.m.

Two people were taken to the hospital.

"We come around to get out of the water park and that’s when we see people on stretchers," Heather Totman said. "I mean they had the masks on them and you could see they were having trouble breathing."

The park said in a statement that the odor was discovered to be an isolated chemical imbalance.

"Automated levers release chemicals however, yesterday too many chemicals were released at once, " the park said in a statement Monday.

Jeremy Christian, manager of the water park, said a pump malfunctioned causing the release of a big burst of chemicals.

He said the lazy river was immediately shut down, then the whole park closed temporarily after the exposure because of lightning in the area.

"We reopened about 30 minutes later for the majority of the facility then about 30 minutes beyond that we got the pool back in balance and reopened," he said.

The water park reopened by 3 p.m. and chemical levels were approved for safe swimming, according to Adventure Landing.

Christian said in his 13 years at the park, he's never experienced such a chemical imbalance before.

"It was a one-time malfunction. The parameters that allowed that to happen have been corrected and it cant happen in the future," he said.

He showed Action News Jax how the water is tested manually each hour to ensure the ph and chlorine levels are safe.

He said a fail safe was also put in place to ensure excess chemicals cannot drain into the pool again.

An Adventure Landing spokesperson said managers have not gotten an update from either guest about the level of irritation.

Full statement from Natalie Dunlap, vice president of marketing at Adventure Landing:

"At 1:50 pm on Saturday managers were notified by three guests that there was a strong odor coming from the lazy river and it was causing them respiratory issues. Two guests were taken by ambulance and at this time we have not heard from either guest on the level of irritation caused by what we discovered to be an isolated chemical imbalance. Automated levers release chemicals however, yesterday too many chemicals were released at once. In addition, weather alerts came in at 
2pm showing lightening touch-downs within 3 miles. Protocol is to shut the waterpark for 20 minutes and then confirm it is safe to reopen. The waterpark closing due to weather related issues did not have to do with the chemical imbalance issue. Prior to 3pm, the waterpark was reopened and all chemical levels were approved for safe swimming. Chemicals are tested hourly."