Rip Current — Brevard, Florida

2015-05-23 to 2015-05-25 · Brevard, Florida

Event narrative

A 32-year-old male from Fellsmere drowned while rescuing his younger cousin from a rip current north of the Sebastian Inlet Jetty. He apparently went under after successfully pushing the younger male, who was uninjured, out of the rip current. The older male was pulled from the water by two surfers around 1750 EST on May 25 and taken to a trauma center, where he was later pronounced dead.

Wider weather episode

Enhanced onshore flow created rough surf and numerous strong rip currents that kept local beach patrols extremely busy during the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Beach safety and local news media indicated four rip current related drownings and over 500 ocean rescues, primarily in Volusia and Brevard Counties.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 569490. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.