BEach SAFE

Believe it or not, the biggest weather-related killer on our coast isn’t hurricanes. It's not tornadoes or lighting. It’s rip currents.

According to the National Weather Service, rip currents pose significantly more of a threat than all of those other weather hazards combined. In fact, if you combined fatalities from all our other weather-related hazards they wouldn’t add up to even half the number of fatalities from rip currents in that same timeframe. Statistics show that from 1996 to 2022 there were 130 confirmed fatalities from rip currents. Unfortunately, that is about five deaths a year.

The good news is that beach rescues in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach dropped just over 40 percent in 2022 from 2021, and drowning deaths were cut by more than half, according to our local Gulf Shores and Orange Beach tourism agency. Officials say one reason for the significant drop in those tragedies or near tragedies is a new campaign created, by Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism and unveiled in March 2022 aimed at making visitors aware of these dangers. The BEach SAFE campaign was designed to inform beachgoers about the beach flag system and warn them about dangerous surf. Coastal residents most likely know what the beach warning flags mean, but for the millions of guests visiting our coast each year the difference between a double or a single red flag might not be common knowledge.

Since its inception last year, early data indicates the campaign is working. Gulf Shores city officials now want to increase awareness of the campaign and want the messaging spread to every beachside condo within the city. At a recent Gulf Shores City Council meeting, an ordinance was adopted requiring the condos and high-rises to post information about flag warnings and rip currents.

Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency also recently launched a new tool in an effort to make Alabama's coast safer. People can text “ALBEACHES” to 888-777 to receive daily beach conditions via text message.

In an effort to do everything possible to keep itrip guests safe and coming back to our area year after year, we launched an additional text campaign at the beginning of March for in-house guests. Each morning of their stay, our guests receive a brief text with information about that day’s surf conditions.