High Tide: Hurricane Debby Washes $1 Million Worth of Cocaine onto Florida Beach

More than $1 million dollars worth of cocaine washed up in the Florida Keys as Tropical Storm Debby churned offshore, strengthening into a hurricane, authorities said.

The Monroe County Sheriff's Office said a good Samaritan reported finding several plastic-wrapped packages of suspected cocaine near a pier on the 84000 block of the Old Highway in Islamorada at around 4 p.m. on Aug. 4.

The sheriff's office turned the drugs over to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Samuel Briggs II, Acting Chief Patrol Agent of the U.S. Border Patrol Miami Sector, shared photos of the haul on Twitter, which showed 25 individually wrapped packages of cocaine weighing a total of approximately 70 pounds.

"Hurricane Debby blew 25 packages of cocaine (70 lbs.) onto a beach in the Florida Keys," Briggs wrote alongside the photos. "Good Samaritan discovered the drugs & contacted authorities. U.S. Border Patrol seized the drugs, which have a street value of over $1 million dollars."

Debby made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region as a Category 1 hurricane early Monday.

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Although it quickly weakened to a tropical storm, it continued dumping torrential flooding rains across the state as it moved northeast toward Georgia and the Carolinas.

Cocaine has washed up on Florida's beaches several times in recent months, from as far south as the Florida Keys to as far north as Amelia Island, on the northeast coast near the Georgia border.

TMX contributed to this report.