With beach traffic increasing as summer approaches, the risk of a familiar hazard is also rising; they kill more than 100 people in the U.S. every year…and they’re not sharks.
The National Weather Service said 11 people have already died this year in rip currents at beaches nationwide, and NOAA research shows that about 100 Americans die each year after getting caught in “the grip of the rip.”
NWS also said only 20% of rip current deaths along the eastern North Carolina coast are people who live here.
Dr. Tony Rodriguez, a Coastal Geology Professor at the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences, said rip current is a narrow channel of fast-moving water in the surf zone – and they aren’t difficult to spot.
“You might have a continuous line of waves breaking against the shore and then the rip current is a break in that continuous line,” he said, “So, people might think like that's the best place to get into the water -- the waves aren't breaking there -- but that's where the rip current is.”
Fighting a rip current – which will pull a swimmer out into deeper water but not under water -- will quickly be exhausting, but Rodriguez said floating along with it until it ends just past the breaker line will help people get out of the rip’s grip.
“It'll take you beyond the breaker line and then you should be able to swim to the side and swim back in if you're a good swimmer,” Rodriguez said. “But if you panic, then that's when it gets dangerous, or if you're not a strong swimmer, it gets dangerous because you quickly find yourself far from shore.”
He added that paying attention to and following the beach warning flags is one key to staying safe in the sand and sun. He also recommends swimming only at beaches that are staffed with lifeguards, and suggests having a boogie board when swimming to help stay afloat in an emergency.
Rip currents have caused nearly 200 deaths along the Carolina coast since 2000, and they are the number one cause of weather-related deaths in eastern North Carolina.
