2 Swimmers Die in Gulf: Double-Red Flags Posted on Beaches
By Jon Miltimore, The News Herald, Panama City, Fla.
Aug. 4–PANAMA CITY BEACH — Two tourists died Sunday after they were pulled from the Gulf of Mexico’s turbulent waters, police said.
James D. Powell, 60, was pulled from the gulf about 9:40 a.m. near the 13000 block of Oleander Drive. The Austin, Texas, man had been swimming about 75 yards offshore when his wife began screaming for help. He was pulled from the gulf by members of a Georgia family who were nearby, police said.
Powell was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to a Panama City Beach police release.
About five hours later, William Joseph Kincaid, a 34 yearold Georgia man, was swimming in the gulf near the County Pier with his twin daughters, when the girls became distressed, according to Beach police. A witness told police Kincaid appeared to be helping his daughters when he became distressed himself.
His daughters were not harmed, but onlookers pulled Kincaid from the water, and someone began CPR. Emergency Medical Services transported him to an area hospital, but he later was pronounced dead, police reported.
Double-red flags were flying at the time of both incidents. Doublered flags indicate the presence of rip currents, and swimmers are not allowed in the water.
The official cause of death for both men will be determined by the medical examiner’s office, police said. If ruled as drownings, they would be Panama City Beach’s third and fourth in four days. Seven people have drowned in gulf waters off Bay County beaches so far this year, not including Sunday’s incidents.
“We post the double-red flags; we drive up and down the beach telling them to stay out of the water,” said Maj. David Humphreys with the Panama City Beach Police. “I just can’t comprehend it. They think we’re harassing people; we’re just trying to keep them safe.”
Tropical storm
The National Weather Service said it was unlikely the newly formed Tropical Storm Edouard was responsible for Sunday’s rough waters.
Mark Wool, a meteorologist at National Weather Service in Tallahassee, said Edouard still was in the development stages at the time of the swimmers’ deaths, and the storm likely was responsible for only a slight increase in rip currents the last couple of days, if any.
Wool said the rough waters are attributable to increased onshore flows caused by a high pressure system to south.
Edouard developed out of a swirl of thunderstorms south-southwest of Panama City Beach, and it was not upgraded to a tropical storm until late Sunday afternoon.
At 10 p.m. Sunday, the center of Edouard was located about 80 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm’s top sustained winds were 50 mph, and the storm is expected to strengthen today.
Wool said Edouard is approaching Galveston, Texas, and is unlikely to significantly impact Bay County beaches. Hurricane watches were posted for parts of the north Texas and western Louisiana coastal counties, and tropical storm warnings extended eastward to the mouth of the Mississippi, the NHC reported.
“As the system moves away, it will probably continue to drop off,” Wool said of the local surf.
—–
To see more of The News Herald or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsherald.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The News Herald, Panama City, Fla.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
NYSE:EMS,