PANAMA CITY BEACH: The green flags waving on the beach mean calmer waters, but don’t expect to see any.
Beach and county officials who raise flags pointing to water situations say green necessarily gives a bad impression on other people or, according to Ruth Corley, public data manager for the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, “a false sense of security. “
The sheriff responded to two drownings last year, but none so far this year, the BCSO sergeant said. so far this year.
Bay County EMS recordings mix drownings and near drownings in their call summary report. The report for 2021 lists 151 drownings or near-drownings, 117 water rescues and 61 unknown emergencies in the water.
This year’s tally, as of June 21, lists 79 drownings or near-drownings, 72 rescues in the water and 34 unknown screams in the water.
And that’s one of the main reasons, according to officials, for not unfurling green flags to sign “calm, careful conditions. “
Spivey insists that no green flag has flown in at least thirteen years since taking office, due to the “moderate degree of danger presented in this open water frame (Gulf of Mexico). “
Spivey said most of the other people his company has been called to are other people who shouldn’t jump into the water in the first place.
“I strongly recommend non-swimmers not to enter the Gulf of Mexico without dressing in a Coast Guard-approved non-public flotation device that fits properly, even on a yellow flag day and even then, swim near a lifeguard. “Spivey said.
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The exception: “Experienced surfers who know the currents back. They’re on their boards, their own private flotation devices,” he said.
Jessica Graham, director of the St. Andrew and St. Joseph Bays Estuary program at Florida State University, agreed.
“The beach is incredibly dynamic, so it will be replaced with each and every storm,” he said. it’s happening. What you don’t see is what’s going on underwater. “
Dozens of red flags come out of a box right at the Sheriff’s Substation at S Park. Richard Seltzer on Thomas Drive. There is a small box of yellow flags nearby. Carefully pressed purple and green flags are stored in a rusty closet on the other side of the room.
“We don’t fold the red flags. When they’re wet, they get moldy,” Sgt. Mike Morris of BCSO.
Morris made the official call for the color of the flag displayed along the strip of bright white sand in Bay County.
Deputies, with the help of county rescuers and firefighters, installed flags on 24 poles stretching from St. John’s State Park. Beach Road West to Camp Helen State Park in Sunnyside, he said.
Spivey said of the 27-mile stretch of beach in Bay County, city lifeguards are guilty of flags on the 25 poles that dot the middle 9. 5 miles. This domain stretches from Beach Access 24 to 76-B. The department of La Spivey is made up of 22 workers — six full-time workers, 15 seasonal lifeguards and himself — who cover the beach from 8 a. m. m. to 10 p. m.
“On a smart day, it will take us about 30 minutes to replace all the flags,” Spivey said, adding, “We have our eyes on the water all day. We’re tracking to see what’s coming. “
Spivey analyzes wind direction and speed, and verifies wave forecast models and buoy reports from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“It has a lot to do with the wind. But the tide that goes down can generate backflows,” he said. “We look at the tidal situations and the direction in which the swell is coming towards us. “
Yellow flags fly when the surface of the water looks flat at 1. 5 feet. But they can be replaced by red, indicating a higher risk, when waves reach between 1 and 3 feet, he said. Flags are replaced by double red when the crest of the waves happens 3 feet or more.
Conditions requiring double red flags are when bathers are asked to remain on land and the enforcement branch of the city code can fine each $500 discovered in the water.
And then there are the animals that inhabit the salty waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Purple flags signal the presence of marine life, such as jellyfish in the area.