Deadly rip currents off Panama City, Florida, killed four people within 48 hours, a tragic toll setting the area on pace for another year as one of the country’s deadliest beaches.
The bodies of three young men were found, one by one, Friday evening, authorities said. They had traveled to Panama City from Alabama just a few hours earlier.
On Thursday afternoon, rescue officials attempted in vain to save a 19-year-old swimmer behind Sharky’s Beachfront Restaurant in Panama City Beach.
In 2023, Panama City rip currents claimed more lives than anywhere else in the United States, according to National Weather Service data. At least eight people died there. Overall, Florida rip currents killed more than 30 people last year. That’s compared with five who died in New Jersey and three each in California, South Carolina, and Louisiana.
The often busy beaches in the summer season carry a hidden danger: fast-moving channels of water that can drag a swimmer away from shore and exhaust them trying to fight their way out. The National Ocean Service estimates thousands of people are rescued from rip currents each year in the U.S.While rip currents can happen at any beach with breaking waves, including at the Great Lakes, waters off the Florida coast have proven some of the most deadly. At least six people have died at Florida beaches this week alone, adding to 11 others who have drowned elsewhere in the U.S. and its territories because of rip currents this year through June 9.
