Panama City Beach, Florida, faces the possibility of being America’s deadliest beach again this year, as officials there have scrambled in recent weeks to stem a rise in drownings.
USA Today and the Panama City News Herald, part of the USA Today Network, reported in June that the region is on track to lead the nation in ocean deaths for the second consecutive year, according to data from the National Weather Service. USA Today first reported the region’s death record in 2023, when seven people drowned over a nine-day period.
So far this year, seven tourists have been killed in Gulf of Mexico rip currents off the coast of Panama City, including four within 48 hours. Lifeguards performed 21 water rescues in one day last month.
Within weeks, local tourism officials have increased the area’s public safety budget. On July 9, the Bay County Tourism Development Council voted to spend an additional $600,000 to improve beach safety, spokeswoman Sydney Clifton said. The money has yet to be approved by the county.
At a special meeting two days later, the Panama City Beach City Council ordered staff to consider increased safety measures, such as installing flotation devices and hiring beach ambassadors to warn swimmers about dangerous surf. The council also voted to add six full-time lifeguards.
“We invite people from around the country, and frequently the world, to come visit our truly beautiful beaches,” Panama City Beach Mayor Stuart Tettemer said. “We need to move forward and make our beaches as safe as possible.”
At the same time, police are cracking down on swimmers who refuse to leave the water in the most dangerous conditions., When double red flags are displayed, Panama City Beach police and law enforcement officers have ticketed hundreds of people.
Preliminary reports suggest the extra safety measures are working: Officials say lifeguard rescues and water rescues are down compared to this time last year. As of last week, there had also been two fewer drowning deaths.
“What this trend shows is that our lifeguards are now empowered to be a little more productive and are taking more precautions,” said Darryl Paul, beach safety chief for Panama City Beach Fire Rescue.
Tourist drowning leads to increased movement to strengthen safety measures
All seven people who have drowned on beaches around Panama City so far this year were visitors from out of state, according to authorities. Late last month, three men in their 20s from Alabama drowned after only one warning signal for strong rip currents. The day before, a 19-year-old first-year seminary student from Oklahoma was caught in a rip current and drowned.
When the City Council approved the increase in lifeguards in early July, the mayor said the city was also considering how to spend about $300,000 allocated by county tourism officials to improve beach safety.
“The Gulf of Mexico is wilderness. It’s not a pool or a lake or a stream,” Tettemer said. “It’s wilderness, and it’s not the kind of body of water that a lot of tourists are used to.”
Among the ideas city officials are considering are requiring swimmers to wear life jackets when the red flag is out and installing technology to identify people having difficulty swimming and alert lifeguards.
The new lifeguard deployments come as the United States has struggled for years with a lifeguard shortage, leading to public pool closures, deserted beaches and a rise in drownings.
Beach police issue fines for ignoring double red flag warnings
Beachgoers can help protect themselves by checking weather and wave conditions before going for a swim and following the warnings posted by flags on the beach: double red means extremely dangerous and swimming is never permitted.
So far this year, 210 people have been ticketed for refusing to leave the water under double red flag conditions, 73 more tickets than were issued in all of last year, Lt. John Deggins said.
“They have to be given a warning,” Deggins said, “and if they don’t comply, they’re going to be fined.”
Violators can be fined up to $500.
The flags are green for low danger, yellow for medium danger, one red flag for high danger, and two red flags for very dangerous conditions.
In Panama City Beach and Bay County, officials say people should always remain vigilant in Gulf waters and won’t fly green flags. It’s not always clear when water conditions are dangerous, and flag colors are based on rip currents, not just wave size. Even when the water looks calm, there could be dangerous rip currents.
“Typically when we tell people, ‘Don’t go in the water,’ that’s not information that’s taken very well,” said Sergeant Zachary Rose with the Panama City Beach Police Department.
But for Rose and Deggins, upsetting tourists isn’t such a big deal if the goal is to prevent drownings and save lives.
Fewer water rescues, more prevention education
So far this year, Panama City Beach lifeguards have conducted more than 182,000 preventative actions, or public awareness measures, to reduce the chances of getting into a dangerous situation.
Preventive measures have proven effective in reducing the number of public aids, where lifeguards must enter the water to prevent someone needing rescue, and water rescues, where someone is drowning and pulled from the water.
As of last week, city lifeguards had conducted 308 public rescues and 99 rescues, according to Paul, beach safety officer for Panama City Beach Fire Rescue. For all of 2023, there have been a total of 2,542 public rescues and 237 rescues.
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“We don’t want to have a lot of rescues, simply because lifeguarding is a proactive job, preventing the need for rescues,” Paul said. “That’s reflected in the decline in the number of rescues and public assistance.”
“At the end of the day, we’re squeezing everything we can out of the lifeguard system with the current staffing.”
