One Florida beach is taking action after five tourists drowned in four days. Panama City Beach will have an extra police presence on days with double red flags.
According to WTVY, police officers will station at the Florida beach on days when the water is really dangerous. They will stop beachgoers from going into the water. Violators face a stiff $500 fine and potential jail time for ignoring double red fags. It's not something that officials want to do, but they're concerned about people's safety.
Rip currents have killed five people over four days with officials warning not to ignore red flags on the beach. In an interview with Fox10TV, Fire Chief Ray Morgan discussed the issue of trying to keep the beaches safe. The city has 16 lifeguards, but they're responsible for patrolling 9.6 miles of the beach. According to officials, they're often spread thin and can't always help.
"A lifeguard is never too far from you but seeing the amount of people that we have and the large beach that we cover we just can't have a lifeguard at every few feet it's just not possible," said Panama City Beach Fire Chief Ray Morgan. Beachgoers seem to agree with this assessment.
"I'm born and raised in Florida and I've been to almost every beach, and I agree there's not enough lifeguards," one beachgoer said. The Mayor of Panama City Beach, Stuart Tettemer, sees an easy solution to the problem. He says that the Florida beach needs more lifeguards.
Florida Beach Debates New Safety Measures
"Absolutely we need more lifeguards. We've been running our folks ragged through these tough weekends," he said. From June 16 to June 22, the beach patrol warned over 38,000 people about the rip currents and the importance of red flags. They also made six rescues and 15 public assists. Additionally, the patrol made 21,000 preventative actions to stop an emergency from happening.
Still, it wasn't enough to save the five tourists who died over the past week. Due to that fact, the Florida beach wants to make the appropriate changes to prevent any more deaths. The fire chief put it best.
"The last thing we want you to do is come on vacation and not take all your family members home with you," Morgan said.
