Fort Lauderdale police have identified Friday’s drowning victim as 13-year-old Jerry Hyppolite from Palm Beach County.
Officials said the teen was swimming with friends in rough waters when this happened. Lifeguards rescued the friends, but the teen wasn’t found until three hours after the distress call.
Holiday weekend brings surge in rescues
Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue officials said the holiday and the rip currents were why so many people needed help.
Other South Florida beaches were also busy. Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue said it has saved 33 people from the choppy water since Friday. Miami Beach Ocean Rescue said it saved 70 people.
Red flags and beach closures signal danger
Warning signs are still on the beach. The red flag means the water is hazardous, and some spots were completely closed off to swimmers.
Dani Ramos says this is a good beach day, but not a good swimming day. “Red means no, so don’t go in. It looks super choppy, and I feel like if I go in, I’m getting taken away,” Ramos said.
Even five-year-old Marco can tell the water isn’t safe just by looking at it. “Oh, so why are some persons in there,” Marco said. “I’m never gonna go in there when it’s dangerous.”
How to survive a rip current
Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue says all the people they rescued were in a rip current and had lifeguards nearby.
They demonstrated how the current can take you out. “You can hop in, and it can immediately suck you out,” said Ocean Rescue Chief Alex Bagwell. Bagwell says many people panic in a rip current and try to swim against it, which can tire you out.
So, she says the best bet is to not fight it and let a lifeguard come get you.
“You never wanna swim directly into shore in the rip current. What you do wanna do is swim parallel to shore,” Bagwell said.
Rough conditions persist as risks rise at dusk
Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue is expecting some rough conditions for the rest of the day and right around this time is when ocean rescue will see a higher number of distress calls, since they tell CBS News Miami the current gets much more dangerous right before low tide, which in the past few days, happened to be around sunset.
