Rip currents account for most OC rescues

By Kristin Joson Contributing Writer

(July 21, 2023) If you spend any time at the beach and listen to local television or radio at this time of the year, you will hear about the dangers of rip currents.

Although they are often mistakenly referred to as “rip tides.” they are in fact, a current.

A current is simply a volume of water moving from one location to another. In contrast, tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun and occur about every six hours.

What makes a rip current dangerous is that it moves water away from the beach and out to sea, where north or south currents (littoral current) just move water along the beach.

As water flows away from the beach, in the RIP, anything or anyone in that water will also be pulled steadily away from shore. Someone standing in waist-deep water can be swept out to greater depths in seconds due to a rip current.

This action not only accounts for how unsuspecting bathers and people that never intended to go out further than their waist are pulled into water that is over their heads. It is also responsible for creating the telltale signs that identify a rip current to the trained eye.

As waves break and stir up the sandy bottom and create foam, the discolored water and foam are carried away from the shore, clearly marking the location of a rip current.

While the mechanics of a rip current are easily understood, they remain the greatest surf zone hazard for anyone enjoying water activities at any beach (80 percent worldwide) and account for over 95 percent of all water related rescues in Ocean City. They are also responsible for most ocean drownings.

Rip currents are such a wellknown natural hazard that the National Weather Service has identified them as the third leading cause of weather-related death, although in the past few years they have moved into second place.

Unfortunately, this year there have been more rip current-related drowning deaths than in any recent years in the US. In Panama City Beach, Florida, there were six deaths in a 10day period and yes, we had one in Ocean City, three weeks before guards were on duty for the season. Heat-related deaths remain the leading cause (over 30 years), but rip currents are more deadly than tornados, hurricanes or cold.

If you question the seriousness of this threat, then just take a moment to realize that not all states could even contribute to this statistic because not all states have ocean beaches. So being the second or third leading cause of weather-related death is quite significant.

Nationally, there have been 65 deaths through July 4, this season compared with 69 during all of 2022 and the 10-year average is 71 deaths. Believe it or not, even the Great Lakes has rip currents.

To understand how to escape a rip current it is important to understand the cause.

Rip currents occur when water that comes into the beach by wave action and wind needs to make its way back out.

Because a sand bar runs the length of Ocean City (a barrier island), water that has come over the sand bar needs to make its way back out. Because wave action continues to bring water over the sandbar, the water has difficulty going out against the incoming flow. Water will take the path of least resistance and find a lower spot along the sandbar to become the natural path for the flow of the water.

As more water comes across the

Continued from Page 55 beach without recourse and let the eyesore spread.

In response to my latest email he advised me that it would be better served if I contacted the Ocean City Police directly when the violations occur (How many times do you think the police are in the inlet parking lot and see these violations?), and do you think it would be better served when the police observe these violations that they enforce the ordinance without me or the mayor’s involvement.

George Dobson Ocean View, Delaware