How to stay safe from rip currents, and what to do if you’re caught in one

A stretch of beach in Costa Rica on Feb. 28, 2010, not far from the one south of Limón where Malcolm-Jamal Warner died on Sunday, July 20, 2025. The beach where Warner drowned was known for its strong surf and dangerous rip currents, and was not protected by lifeguards when he died. (Kike Calvo/The New York Times)

By Christine Hauser and Hannah Ziegler

As hot summer days lure people to sandy shores and cool waters, experts say that people going on beach trips should be aware of the potential danger of rip currents, like one the authorities said swept away actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner while he was swimming off the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica on Sunday.

At least three dozen people in the United States have drowned in the surf this summer, most of them caught in rip currents, channels of water that flow away from the shore and can drag people along, according to the National Weather Service, which tracks surf-zone deaths across the country.

As the summer holidays get in full swing, reports of rescues and fatalities tend to rise.

Warner, the American actor best known for playing Theo Huxtable on “The Cosby Show,” was swept away at a Costa Rican beach known for rip currents on a day when there was no lifeguard on duty, local authorities said. Earlier in July, Chase Childers, a former minor league baseball player, died after rushing into the surf in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, to save swimmers in a rip current, police said.

In Australia, an average of 26 people drowned each year in rip currents, statistics from 2011 to 2021 show.

And the fatalities do not just occur in oceans. In the Great Lakes region, rip currents caused an average of 50 drownings per year from 2010 to 2017, said Chris Houser, the dean of science at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

Can you see a calm strip of water cutting through the waves?

Rip currents occur when water flows away from the beach through a narrow channel that has been created by an underwater feature or a sandbar. They are easiest to see from an elevated position like a beach access point, and are harder to spot when a person is closer to the water.

From land, a rip current can appear relatively calm on the surface, as a strip of water that extends out from the beach between breaking waves. Its appearance can be deceiving, because the forceful flow of water away from the shore can sweep a swimmer far into the body of water. The current can also appear as a patch of darker water stretching away from the beach, or as a distinct offshore flow.

Rip currents are swift and unrelenting. They can move at speeds of up to 8 feet per second, which is faster than the pace of an Olympic swimmer. But drownings often happen with far weaker currents, said Gregory Dusek, a senior scientist with the Ocean Service at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“It doesn’t have to be moving that fast to cause a problem,” Dusek said. “It just needs to be pulling you enough to get you from where you can touch to where you can’t.”

The currents can occur at any time and in any conditions, but they are most dangerous when waves are 2 to 3 feet high, Dusek added. There is also added risk in late summer, when tropical storm systems and hurricanes can move through a region and prompt strong waves, even on clear, sunny days.

“You can have a storm far away driving pretty large waves, and you can have strong rip currents where you are, even when the weather seems fine,” Dusek said.

Check the surf forecast at your beach.

NOAA maintains beach weather forecasts for several popular destinations, which contain information about rip currents and waves, at weather.gov/beach.

Surf zone forecasts also assess the low, moderate or high risks of rip currents associated with your destination beach.

Some lists of safety tips from government agencies also state the obvious for people dipping into the surf: Make sure you know how to swim.

Read signs and avoid swimming near piers.

Try to swim at a beach that is under the watch of lifeguards, and ask them about the conditions before you enter the water. Comply with their orders, and read and follow instructions from official posted signs. Do not swim alone or within 100 feet of piers and jetties, because rip currents flourish alongside them, NOAA recommends.

Families with children should swim near a lifeguard if there is one. It also helps if children bring something that floats into the water with them, such as a boogie board, a surfboard or a lifejacket, all of which can help weaker swimmers navigate a rip current.

Hopefully, you will never need the advice in the next section.

Don’t fight the rip current.

Many people panic when they get pulled into a rip current, which leads them to waste energy and make irrational decisions, Dusek said. If you find yourself carried off by a rip current, try to relax and evaluate your surroundings.

Remember that a rip current will not pull you under, he said. And don’t try to swim against it.

Not every rip current is the same, and you may use different strategies depending on the water’s movement and your swimming abilities, Dusek said.

It is possible that the current itself will circulate back to shore. If so, float.

The rip current is generally narrow, so try to escape it through its side, rather than head-on. Strong swimmers should move in a direction that follows along the shoreline, or swim toward breaking waves and then at an angle toward the beach, he said.

“If you don’t think you can do that, or you feel like you’re swimming anywhere in particular, you want to just float and wave your hands and call for help,” Dusek said.

It’s important to stay above the water and avoid exhausting yourself to give time for a lifeguard to reach you or for someone on the shore to call 911.

To do so, you can also embrace the “flip, float, follow” strategy, which involves flipping on your back to float above water and following the current until it takes you past breaking waves or back to shore.

How to help someone stuck in a current.

Rip current drownings often occur when bystanders wade into dangerous conditions to help another person. To assist someone safely, you can help direct them to swim parallel to the shore or flip on their back to float.

If you are near someone stuck in a rip current, alert a lifeguard. If there is no lifeguard on duty, call 911. Even if the person escapes the rip current, they may still need lifesaving support, Dusek said.

For swimmers who are pulled by the current closer to the shore, give them something that floats to hold onto, such as a boogie board or a cooler. If you feel like the only option is to enter the water — and you’re a strong swimmer — it’s important to still bring a flotation device, Dusek said.