Grand River Drowning Victim Recovered

Grand River search (still from a WZZM video)

compiled from various sources

A 60-year-old man attempted to swim across the Grand River in Kent County, Michigan, on Friday July 31. During the swim, he disappeared and emergency personnel were called.

The search was called off at dusk.

On Saturday, at approximately 2:00 p.m., the Kent County Sheriff's Office Dive Team located the victim approximately 15 feet out from the western riverbank, about one-quarter mile downstream from where he was last seen in the water.

The incident occurred near Johnson Park. Grandville Deputy Chief Darin Rietman encourages swimmers to take precautions in the river. "Don't try to swim across the Grand River, that current can be unpredictable, can be strong," Rietman said. There is also a lot of debris.

See WZZM TV


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Lake Michigan Claims Two More Lives

Lake Michigan beach at Ludington (photo by jhy)

a news release of Bridge Michigan

Two young men drowned in Lake Michigan over the weekend. A Grand Rapids man died trying to rescue an Illinois man off a pier in the Pigeon Lake channel in Ottawa County, according to the Grand Rapids man’s father.

Lake Michigan is consistently the deadliest of the Great Lakes. It claimed 36 lives last year — including at least five in Michigan — according to the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project. The next deadliest, Lake Erie, killed 19 people.

Before the drownings over the weekend, Lake Michigan had killed eight people — including one in Michigan — this year, twice as many as the next-deadliest, Lake Ontario.

A number of drownings in recent years prompted South Haven to bring back lifeguards this year for the first time in a quarter-century. Lifeguards there just saved the mayor’s husband who had a medical emergency on the beach.


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Deadly Summer on Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan (photo by JHY)

by JHY

This past year has been unusually dangerous for swimmers and boaters on Lake Michigan. The Coast Guard reporting year runs from October 1 to Sept 30, and during the period just ending there were 66 drownings.

This includes rivers and tributaries which feed the lake, in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Since October 1, there have been an additional two drownings in Ludington. Charles Wolfson, US Coast Guard civilian search and rescue coordinator stated that the usual number of deaths per year is closer to 40.

Ten of the deaths have been attributed to rip currents raised on windy days. Many adults seem to feel that the warning flags pertain to children, but not to them, reported Ottawa County sheriff's Sgt. Keith Koeman. Most officials agree that part of the cause is the high temperatures, which enticed many people into the big lake, when they were unfamiliar with its dangers.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Lauren Jorgensen said, "People think of Lake Michigan as a lake, but they should really be thinking about it like an ocean. Conditions can deteriorate very quickly."

The National Weather service reported that the number of high-risk days for rip currents this summer was 42 from June through August, while last year the number was 43. Their conclusion is that the key factor must be something other than rip currents.

No matter the causes, anyone who ventures into or out on Lake Michigan needs to consider the special risks in a large body of water.

See Manistee Drowning- What You Should Do in a Rip Current
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Manistee Drowning - What Should You Do in a Rip Current

Death of 15-year-old highlights the need for knowledge of how to respond if you are caught in a rip current, also known as undertow.

Wednesday afternoon the wind was blowing at about 12 mph; the waves were 4-6 feet high. Possibly many teenagers decided it was a great day for an exciting swim in Lake Michigan. But for two of them, this was a fateful decision.

The boys, one 15, the other 16, were swimming at Manistee's Fifth Avenue Beach. It's the all too familiar story... they got out too far and one of the boys was caught by the wave action and pulled even farther from shore. His friend managed to swim in and immediately called 911 and the other boy's family. The younger boy was recovered about 30 minutes later, and could not be revived.

Rip currents, formerly known as undertow, are caused when water rushes away from shore in a narrow path. This happens when various barriers - a sand bar, jetty, anything - divert the water. They most often occur after storms as temporary currents, but permanent currents may be found in many locations. They can extend for hundreds of feet and travel at up to 3 mph. They can be 100 feet wide, but rarely exceed 30 feet.

Did this tragedy need to happen? Possibly not. Here are some safety tips for swimming in large bodies of water.

• Number 1 - Don't swim when red warning flags are present or when you see the following conditions:
  • if you see different stripes of water color - the colors may indicate stirred sediments or different depths (and thus a channel of water movement)
  • if you see a difference in waves - large choppy waves farther offshore while all is calm near shore may indicate currents
  • if you see foam or floating objects heading steadily away from shore
  • if you see a plume of muddy water outside of a sandbar
• Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic
• Don't try to swim against the current. Remember that these currents are usually narrow, and swim parallel to the shore to exit the current.
• If you are unable to swim out of the current, just float and ride it out till it dissipates. This will usually be just outside the line of wave formation. Then swim diagonally to shore.

Finally and primarily, know your swimming capabilities and use your head first!

from the Ludington Daily News, July 12, 2007 See safety tips at NOAA
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