One tourist drowns off the coast of Panama City Beach, first local beach drowning of 2024
PANAMA CITY BEACH — A tourist drowned off the coast of Panama City Beach on Wednesday afternoon.
According to information from the city, the person drowned in the Gulf of Mexico behind Ocean Villa, a condominium at 10625 Front Beach Road. This marks Panama City Beach's first beach drowning of the year.
As of about 9:30 a.m. Thursday, the News Herald had not yet confirmed the victim's identity. But Whit Majors, chief medical examiner for the District 14 Medical Examiner's Office, said the person was from Ohio.
The drowning happened about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday under single red-flag conditions.
The incident comes in the wake of nine beach drownings in Bay County last year. Of the drownings, six happened off the coast of Panama City Beach and three happened on unincorporated county beaches outside the city limits.
Two of last year's drownings were under single red flags, like the one on Wednesday, while seven others were under double red flags. All of the victims from last year were tourists who died after being caught in rip currents.
Rip currents are fast-moving currents created by channels in sandbars. The channels run perpendicular to the shoreline and cause water to funnel faster out into deeper waters. Rip currents can vary in strength, depending on how developed the channels are, and they can sometimes be identified from shore where there is a gap in the wave break — areas where the white caps of the break are less noticeable.
It should be noted that while surf conditions can be deadly during times of double-red flags — when it is illegal in Bay County to swim under penalty of $500 fines — they also can be very dangerous during only single red-flag conditions.
The best thing a swimmer can do if they are caught in a rip current is to swim parallel to shore, meaning toward the left or right, where they are in distress. If they do this, they can break free from the current, often landing on a sandbar where they can stand. If they still cannot stand, they will at least be in calmer water where it will be easier to make it back to shore.
Beach safety: 'All about safety': Bay partners with PCB, distributes 500 beach safety flags to vendors
Common flag colors used in beach flag warning systems include a green flag for low-hazard conditions, a yellow flag for medium-hazard conditions, one red flag for high-hazard conditions, and two red flags for very dangerous conditions.
Panama City Beach and Bay County never fly green flags; officials say beachgoers should always be cautious anytime they enter the Gulf. That is because rip currents can always be present, even under clear skies and calmer surf conditions.
To sign up for daily text alerts on local beach flag conditions, text "PCBFLAGS" to 888777.
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City Beach records first beach drowning of 2024
