"It’s hard for us because if we over-warn, people stop listening, and if we under-warn, it could be deadly."
Lifeguards stationed at Clearwater Beach have pulled 35 swimmers from the water over the last three weeks, an abnormally high number.
Patrick Brafford, the beach lifeguard manager for Clearwater Fire Rescue, said the highest number of rescues occurred Monday, when 12 people were pulled back to shore. A dayslong streak of rip currents, swift channels of water flowing out to sea, was the culprit, he added.
Clearwater lifeguards weren’t alone. In Manatee County, lifeguards rescued 136 people over a three-day stretch last week, the Bradenton Herald reported.
Brafford said Clearwater Beach’s number of rescues wasn’t nearly as high because his lifeguards shut down stretches of shoreline that were particularly risky to swimmers.
After a streak of hurricanes and cold fronts, the sea floor “has changed tremendously in the last couple years,” Brafford said. It’s made the waters near Pier 60 more prone to rip currents when conditions are right.
Read more at the Tampa Bay Times