Red flags are currently flying on Pensacola Beach, and red flag conditions, including high surf and life threating rip currents, are expected throughout the weekend. Visitors and residents are asked not to swim or wade in Gulf waters whenever red flags are flying. Even the strongest swimmer can be swept out to sea by a rip current.
Rip currents are powerful, narrow channels of fast-moving water that can move at speeds of up to eight feet per second, faster than an Olympic swimmer. NOAA estimates that lifeguards rescue tens of thousands of people from rip currents in the U.S. every year and 100 people are killed by rip currents annually. The local rip current risk can be check daily at www.srh.noaa.gov/mob/ and flag conditions are posted at pensacolabeachlifeguards.com or Facebook at /PensacolaBeachLifeguards.
When visiting any beach, please follow these rip current safety tips:
- Never swim alone or at an unguarded beach. When you arrive at the beach ask the on-duty lifeguard about rip currents and other conditions expected.
- Follow the posted beach condition flag warnings:
- Green Flag- means “low hazard,” but you should still exercise caution
- Yellow flag- indicates “moderate surf and conditions” such as rip currents, swimmers should exercise careful caution when entering the water.
- Red flag - “strong currents and high surf” no swimming or wading
- Double red flags- the water is closed for swimming. Conditions are extremely dangerous and lifeguards will not be entering the water to rescue you if something were to happen.
- Purple flag- indicates “dangerous marine wildlife” maybe present. Please use caution when entering the water.
- Learn how to spot a rip current- Most often rip currents are identified by a channel of churning, choppy water, an area having a notable difference in water color, a line of foam, seaweed, or debris moving steadily seaward, or a break in the incoming wave pattern.
- Don’t fight the current.
- Don’t swim straight into shore; instead swim diagonally until you do not feel the rip current’s pull. Then you can swim to shore.
- If you see someone in trouble, get help from a lifeguard. If lifeguards are not available, have someone call 911. Throw the rip current victim something that floats and yell instructions on how to escape. Remember, many people drown trying to save someone else from a rip current.
Rip currents do not pull people under water but pull people away from shore and are particularly dangerous for weak swimmers as well as those unfamiliar with how to react. Drowning deaths usually occur when people are unable to keep themselves afloat and swim back to shore. This may be due to fear, panic, exhaustion, a lack of swimming skills, or any combination of these factors.
