Storms intensified rip currents, some think
Associated PressPublished July 30, 2005
PENSACOLA - Safety director Bob West thinks it's no coincidence that his Pensacola Beach lifeguards are making nearly twice as many rescues, mostly due to rip currents, since Hurricane Ivan rearranged the Florida Panhandle's underwater topography last year.
Rescues also are up in other Florida areas - though not in Tampa Bay - where beaches were battered by the five storms that struck the state over the last year. And at least 19 people have drowned in the state's coastal waters this year.
West thinks the storms, by shifting the sands beneath the waves, have strengthened the rip currents that often pull swimmers to their deaths.
Ivan, for example, washed about 1.3-million cubic yards of sand off Pensacola Beach in September and deposited it into the nearshore bar system. The result has been higher sandbars and deeper water between the bars and shore. Dennis added a bit more sand to the bars July 10.
"The water coming across the sandbar is much, much more shallow, making the rip currents much, much worse," West said. "You'll see bright yellow - water that's ankle deep - and dark blue deep cuts. There are literally hundreds of them."
Public safety officials and meteorologists say they haven't noted any increase in rip currents around Tampa Bay despite the battering some beaches took from storms.
"We don't have much of a problem with rip currents," said St. Pete Beach police Deputy Chief Joe Cornish. "We never have. And I don't know why."
Ernie Jillson, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Ruskin, said the Tampa Bay area didn't experience as much beach erosion as the Panhandle.
Also, rip currents have always been less common around Hillsborough and Pinellas counties because of the way the wind blows.
"The offshore winds from the east we typically get aren't conducive for the creation of rip currents," Jillson said.
Mark Luther, an associate professor at University of South Florida's College of Marine Science, said the size of the continental shelf around Tampa Bay protects it from rip currents, too.
The wide shallow area surrounding local beaches doesn't allow big waves to develop. Without the big waves, rip currents are less likely, Luther said.
Times staff writer Carrie Johnson contributed to this report.