What are rip currents?

Rip currents occur when water becomes trapped between the beach and a sandbar. They are a “relatively small-scale surf-zone current moving away from the beach,” according to The National Weather Service. From above, rip currents appear as narrow, riverlike channels, pushing away from the shore at a high speed. From 2012 to 2022, rip current drownings were the third-highest weather-related fatality behind heat and flooding, according to the National Weather Service. Many surfers use rip currents to carry them out to waves, but, experts say, without adequate preparation, encountering a rip current can pose a major threat to beachgoers.

How can you stay safe?

The National Weather Service maintains a beach forecast webpage where rip current risk is tracked. If caught in one, experts recommend trying to swim left or right, adjacent to the shore to escape the current’s seaward flow. Swimming 10 meters, or roughly 33 feet, in either direction could help someone escape a mild rip current. Swimmers should also look out for visual clues that rip currents leave in the water, such as objects being carried offshore or a break in the waves. To be safe, swimmers should ensure that someone from their party is watching their group from the shoreline. It’s especially important to designate a person to keep an eye on young children who might go into the water. Swimmers should also visit beaches where lifeguards are on staff, said Wyatt Werneth, a spokesperson for The American Lifeguard Association. “Rip currents are not dangerous until there’s no lifeguard around to warn you or get you out of the current,” Werneth added. According to the U.S. Lifesaving Organization, a nonprofit association of beach lifeguards and open-water rescuers, lifeguards pull at least 30,000 swimmers a year out of rip currents. The organization also says that the chances of drowning at a beach with USLA-affiliated lifeguards are 1 in 18 million.

What are the most common causes of rip current drownings?

According to experts, most rip current drownings occur because people who get caught in the fast-moving water will try to swim against the strong, seaward-flowing water. Rip currents can move at speeds up to 6 1/2 feet per second, pushing unexpecting swimmers farther away from shore. In numerous rip current drowning cases, deaths have happened when bystanders try to save another person. In 2021 in Panama City Beach, Fla., dozens of people clung to each other in a human chain to save a young swimmer from a turbulent rip current. Though they rescued the young girl, experts say the action could have quickly soured if multiple people were pulled into the current. Panic often drives a swimmer’s actions, said Stephen Leatherman, an environmental science professor at Florida International University. No matter a person’s swimming abilities, without proper training, it can be easy to fatigue while trying to swim against a current. Many will try to “stepladder swim,” pedaling their feet up and down to keep their head above water, or attempt to swim directly toward the shore. “For most people, that’s virtually impossible. The drag on the body when the current is against you means even the best Olympic swimmers would have a hard time, in many cases, swimming back. So, a regular person would have no chance,” Leatherman said in an interview with The Post. Getting pulled into a rip current can occur when swimming at “calm beaches,” he added. Most people like to enter water where there are no waves, which is where rip currents tend to lurk. Beachgoers should seek the “white water,” where the waves are breaking on the sandbar, to swim in, Leatherman said.

Where are rip current deaths most common?

Data from the National Weather Service identifies Florida, Alabama, South Carolina and Puerto Rico as some of the most common rip current fatality areas. On days when the tides pose a threat to swimmers, some beaches post single or double red flags to signify whether it’s legal or not to enter the Gulf of Mexico. In June, seven rip current deaths occurred at Panama City Beach. In one case, an Alabama man died trying to save his daughter, who was caught in a rip current. According to local reports, the incident happened while the family was on a Father’s Day vacation. A similar drowning took place several weeks earlier when a father tried to save his son from a rough rip current in Daytona Beach, Fla. The rip current deaths recorded in National Weather Service data include individuals ranging from 7 to 71 years old, with a range of swimming skill and fitness levels. Former NFL quarterback Ryan Mallett died Tuesday after struggling to get back to shore at a beach in Destin, Fla. Though local officials said Mallett was not caught in a rip current, the Destin Fire Control District wrote a statement detailing that, between June 14-25, life-threatening rip currents and large surf threatened swimmer safety.

By The Way

18 people died in rip currents this month. Here’s how to stay safe.

By Tamia Fowlkes

June 30, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. EDT

Swimmer competing Nov. 5 in Panama City Beach, Fla. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

5 min

Recent drowning deaths across the Gulf Coast have local officials worried that beachgoers are too cavalier when entering the water, concerns amplified by the upcoming Fourth of July holiday.

Preliminary data from the National Weather Service says that, since the beginning of June, 18 people have died in rip currents across the country, representing more than 30 percent of the 55 people who have drowned from the fast-moving water phenomenon this year. On average, 71 people die in rip current drownings each year, according to the National Weather Service.

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Experts say that knowing the safest locations to swim and where to turn when encountering trouble are necessary steps to staying safe on your next beach trip.

Here’s what you need to know: