Rip Currents Claim Five Lives in Four Days at Same Florida Beach
Five more people have died in dangerous Florida rip currents, all within the space of four days at the same beach, highlighting a worrying pattern this summer.
Debbie Szymanski, a 60-year-old woman from St. Louis, MO became the fifth person to perish in the waters of Panama City Beach on the morning of Sunday, June 23, per Weather.com. Szymanski had been swimming when relatives noticed she was in trouble. Although family members were able to get her out of the water, she was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
A rip current also claimed the lives of three Birmingham, AL men on Friday evening, just minutes after they had arrived to the popular tourist spot and checked into their rental home. The men were identified by the Bay County Sheriff's Office as Harold Denzel Hunter, 25, Jemonda Ray, 24, and Marius Richardson, 24. They had rushed to the water for a quick swim but quickly became caught in a powerful current.
Alabama.com reports that Ray and Richardson were cousins who had grown up like brothers, while Hunter was a close friend of the family. All three men were fathers, leaving behind young children in their passing.
And on Thursday afternoon, a 19-year-old Oklahoma man, Ryker Milton, died after being caught in a current. According to KOKO 5 News, Milton was a soccer star and recent graduate of Hilldale High School.
The rash in deaths come in the same week a Pennsylvania couple likewise were killed at Hutchinson Island, on the eastern coast of the state. Brian Water, 51, and Erica Wishard, 48, were on vacation with their six children when they were caught in a rip current offshore on Thursday, June 20.
As of Monday, the Bay County Sheriff's Office had ordered the ocean closed to swimmers due to extremely dangerous conditions, but by Tuesday that warning was downgraded to a single red flag, indicating high-hazard conditions.
According to National Weather Service data, rip currents kill approximately 74 people per year, however, that number climbed to 91 in 2023. And it seems as though 2024 is going to be another deadly year, if the recent spate in deaths is any indication.
Rip currents, sometimes incorrectly referred to riptides, are characterized as channelized currents of water that flow away from the shore, typically forming around breaks in sandbars and near structures such as jetties and piers. Speeds can quickly pick up without notice, and even the strongest swimmers can quickly become pulled away from the shore.
If traveling to a beach this summer, some signs to be aware of are patches of darker, calmer waters between areas of breaking waves and whitewater, or lines of foam, seaweed, or other debris being pulled out to sea. Should you be caught in a rip current, swim parallel to the shore, out of the path of the current until you escape its pull, then swim back to shore.
And if lifeguards post red flags or hazardous water warnings, swimmers would do best to heed their advice.