Deadly rip currents are to blame for a dozen apparent drownings in the past two weeks off the Florida panhandle, where there aren’t enough lifeguards to keep bathers from venturing into the water despite red flag warnings, they said. experts on Wednesday.
“The combination of southwestern swells and a strengthening sea breeze will increase the height of the waves and increase the risk of rip currents,” warned NBC meteorologist Kathryn Prociv. “The outgoing tide from noon to afternoon today will also increase the risk of rip current.”
Adding to the danger is a chronic shortage of qualified lifeguards, said Tom Gill, spokesman for the nonprofit American Lifeguards Association.
“Swimming at an actively patrolled beach is always the safest option,” Gill said. “But not all beaches are patrolled by a lifeguard and the heat has pushed many people into the water.”
The result is that some of the most beautiful beaches in the United States, which stretch along the peninsula to the border with Alabama, are now also its deadliest, according to data from the National Weather Service.
Seven of the 12 deaths were reported in Panama City Beach, which now has the most apparent drownings in a single location in the US this year, according to the NWS “Surf Zone Fatalities” Database. All deaths were men between the ages of 39 and 68.
By comparison, as of Wednesday there have been a total of 60 apparent drownings across the country, according to the NWS website.
Panama City Beach spokeswoman Debbie Ingram said they simply don’t have enough lifeguards to patrol the nine miles of beach in their resort community, which is a favorite destination for spring break revelers.
“Hiring is a struggle,” Ingram said in a text message exchange. “We are competing with other beach communities, some of which offer higher wages. Many times we have college students going back to school.”
Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford, whose jurisdiction includes Panama City Beach, said on the department’s Facebook page on Sunday that beachgoers who flout the law and have to be bailed out by their deputies are partly to blame for the “tragic and unnecessary deaths” in the Gulf of Mexico.
“These same heroes, who have risked everything to save others, have been cursed and singled out as they tried to warn visitors of life-threatening dangers,” Ford wrote Sunday.
While this number of reported drownings in such a short period of time is unusual, the NWS has recorded 195 rip current deceased since 2002 on the beaches of the Panhandle.
“Contrary to popular belief, the Gulf is not always ‘flat’ (calm without waves),” the agency said. in a recent update. “There are a variety of conditions that can bring large surf to the area and an increased threat of rip currents.”
Former NFL quarterback Ryan Mallett became the latest apparent drowning victim Tuesday when he was pulled unconscious from the water in Destin, in nearby Okaloosa County.
“It’s a lethal combination of very hot weather and rough water conditions,” Gill said. “There have been red flag conditions on many of those beaches for days.”
TO red flag condition It occurs when the surf is considered extremely dangerous as a result of large waves or strong rip currents that could drag even the strongest swimmer out to sea or, in more recent cases, into the Gulf of Mexico.
And for the past three weeks, Florida and much of the South have been heating up in a brutal early-season heat wave, with some areas recording triple-digit temperatures.
While lifeguard “staffing levels” this year are better than last year, Gill said “recruitment agencies still have to fight for every prospect they can get because there are still more jobs than lifeguards available.” .
Panama City Beach has 10 permanent lifeguards, eight of whom work full time, Ingram said. They also have a dozen more lifeguards who were hired to work six months.
But it’s not enough, the spokeswoman said, which is why money to hire an additional lifeguard has been incorporated into the city budget every year for the past three years.
Last year, beach attendance in the US was more than 262 million and 53,387 people had to be rescued, according to statistics from 110 agencies compiled by USLA, youthe lifeguard association.
That was actually a decline from 2021, when beach attendance was nearly 343 million, more than the US population, with 77,702 rescues reported by 120 agencies, according to the USLA.
