Story courtesy National Weather Service
This week is Carolinas Rip Current Awareness Week, as the National Weather Service offices in Charleston, South Carolina, Wilmington, Newport/Morehead City, and Wakefield, Virginia, are teaming up to bring this rip current safety campaign to all of our local beaches.
With warmer weather quickly approaching, now is the time to prepare for the beach season.
If each resident would take a few moments this week to learn about rip currents and beach safety, then we would all be better off we visit the beach.
Rip currents are the deadliest and most common hazard people face at the beaches of North and South Carolina, as well as along most of the coastlines of the world.
The United States Lifesaving Association (USLA) estimates rip currents are responsible for about 100 drownings each year in the United States and over 80% of lifeguard rescues.
Between 2000 and 2024, there were 192 rip current drownings reported in North and South Carolina. This number far exceeds any other weather-related fatalities during that time frame, making rip currents the #1 weather related killer in the coastal Carolinas.
What Are Rip Currents?
- Rip currents are strong, channelized currents of water that flow back into the ocean from the shoreline. They act as treadmills of the ocean, pulling people away from the shore.
- Rip currents are FASTER than an Olympic Swimmer!
- Rip currents DO NOT pull people under the water, they pull people away from the shore.
- The length and width of rip currents can vary dramatically.
Why Are Rip Currents Dangerous?
- Rip currents are the BIGGEST weather related killer in the Carolinas. Since 2000, we have lost just under 200 people from rip currents, an average of about 8 people per year!
- They pull people away from shore into deeper waters.
- People try to swim against rip currents versus swimming out of them.
- Sometimes the worst rip current days occur when the weather is GREAT! Nice and sunny does not mean the ocean is safe.
- They are often hard to identify in the surf and not everyone knows about the danger of rip currents.
- The length and width of rip currents can vary dramatically.
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