BY ERNIE VANDERWALT
ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Manatee County Beach Patrol rescued 136 beachgoers from dangerous rip currents over a three-day period from Wednesday, June 17, through Friday, June 19. None of the rescued swimmers required additional medical assistance.
Capt. Marshall Greene oversees the Manatee County Beach Patrol operations at Manatee Beach in Holmes Beach and at Coquina Beach and Cortez Beach in Bradenton Beach.
“We’ve rescued over 130 individuals since Wednesday,” Greene said on Friday.
When contacted again the following day, Greene said 39 people were rescued on Wednesday, 48 were rescued Thursday and 49 were rescued on Friday.
On Friday, the Manatee County Public Safety Department posted a Facebook message that said, “On Wednesday alone, our Beach Patrol team responded to 18 rescues involving more than 30 beachgoers. We’re grateful for the quick actions and dedication of our lifeguards, who safely assisted swimmers throughout the day. Several of these rescues were related to rip currents – strong and fast-moving channels of water that can quickly pull swimmers away from shore.”
If you find yourself caught in a rip current, Beach Patrol advises taking the following actions:
• Stay calm. Don’t panic.
• Don’t try to swim directly against the current.
• Float, breathe and conserve your energy. Swim parallel to the shore until you’re out of the current, then make your way back to shore.
• Always swim near a staffed lifeguard tower.
Greene said the conditions behind the three-day surge in water rescues were a combination of wave action, wind and heavy beach traffic. He said many of the rescues involved “flash rip currents,” which are channels that form suddenly in water that was calm minutes earlier – even in areas where swimmers believed they could safely stand.
What stood out to Greene wasn’t the volume of rescues, but the outcome: none of the rescued swimmers required hospitalization or calls for EMS assistance.
“Our staff got to them and pulled them out of the water and rescued them before it got so critical that they either inhaled water or had any other medical incident,” Greene said.
Greene credited the Beach Patrol lifeguards’ training and vigilance for noticing the swimmers were in distress before their conditions became life-threatening. He said the lifeguards worked “preemptively and preventatively” throughout the week. He noted Beach Patrol staff are also certified EMTs, but that level of care wasn’t needed during these rescues.
Greene said many rescues involved multiple swimmers at once, occasionally stretching staff across simultaneous incidents.
Greene noted Beach Patrol covers less than two miles of Anna Maria Island’s seven-mile shoreline and he urges swimmers to stay near the staffed lifeguard towers.
“If you swim at a guarded beach, we’re there to help you,” he said. “Swim at an unguarded beach, it’s going to take us time to get there because somebody has to call 911 first.”According to Lt. Joey Santos, there were less than 10 rescues on Saturday.
Beach Patrol advises beachgoers to check the current beach conditions before swimming, . The beach conditions can be found online at mymanatee.org/departments/public-safety-department/beach-patrol-division.
At the beaches, the swimming conditions indicated by the green, yellow, red or double red flags flown from the lifeguard towers.
