Our readers may have noted a Myrtle Beach rip current headline this past Easter week. While information can be found, it is distributed across the internet and not readily handy. As such, MyrtleBeachSC News is providing a four word rule that saves swimmers.

Also, note, starting May 22nd, readers can visit us at MyrtleBeachSC.com/conditions for 24/7 Beach Conditions.

Rip currents are the number-one weather killer on the coastal Carolinas, and more than a third of South Carolina’s surf zone deaths happen on Horry County beaches. Here is what a Myrtle Beach rip current actually is, the four-word escape rule that brings swimmers home, and how to read the flags before you step in.

“What to Do if You Get Pulled Into a Myrtle Beach Rip Current”

Float, Parallel, Angle, Signal: The Four-Word Rule for a Myrtle Beach Rip Current

Locals call them rip tides. NOAA calls that wrong. A rip tide is a tidal flow through an inlet or harbor mouth. The thing that kills swimmers on the Grand Strand every summer is a Myrtle Beach rip current — a wave-driven river of water that runs straight out to sea through a gap in the breakers, regardless of the tide [NOAA National Ocean Service, 2024].

The distinction matters because the response is different, and the response is teachable in about sixty seconds. Rip currents are the [number-one weather-related killer](/category/public-safety/) in the coastal Carolinas, exceeding all other weather fatalities combined [NWS Wilmington, 2025]. They are also the most predictable. They form in the same places, in the same conditions, and they release a swimmer who knows what to do. Panic drowns people, not the water.

What a Rip Current Actually Is

A rip current is a strong, narrow channel of water flowing seaward through the surf zone [NWS Rip Current Science, 2024]. Breaking waves push water onto the beach, and that water has to return to the ocean. When the line of breakers is uneven — broken by a sandbar gap, a scoured channel, or a structure such as a pier piling — the returning water funnels through the path of least resistance and races offshore. On the Grand Strand, the long, gently sloped beaches and frequent sandbar systems give rips plenty of places to form [NWS Rip Current Science, 2024].

Typical rips move at one to two feet per second. Strong pulses can hit eight feet per second, faster than an Olympic swimmer can sprint [NWS Rip Current Science, 2024]. Most are 5 to 100 yards wide, and the majority are less than 80 feet across. That width is the entire reason the standard escape rule works.

The National Weather Service lists four signs visible from shore: a dark, narrow gap in an otherwise continuous line of breaking waves; choppy, churning water heading offshore where the surrounding water is calmer; a plume of sand, foam, or seaweed moving steadily seaward through the surf line; and scalloped notches cut into the beach face that mark spots where persistent rips form [NWS Rip Current Science, 2024]. Polarized sunglasses and an elevated vantage point make all four easier to spot.

One correction before stepping into the surf. Rip currents do not pull swimmers under. They pull them away from shore. People drown because they panic and exhaust themselves swimming straight back against a current they cannot beat [NOAA, 2024].

What to Do if You Get Pulled Into a Myrtle Beach Rip Current

The official “Break the Grip of the Rip” protocol from NOAA, the National Weather Service, and the United States Lifesaving Association runs in this order.

Do not fight the current. Swimming straight toward shore against a rip is the single most common fatal mistake [NOAA Ocean Today, 2024]. The current is faster than you, and trying to power through it burns the energy needed to stay afloat.

Stay calm and float. The rip will not drag you under. Weak swimmers should roll onto their back and let the current carry them out until it dissipates, which usually happens within a short distance of shore [NOAA, 2024; USLA, 2024]. Strong swimmers should swim parallel to the beach — not toward it — until clear of the channel. Because most rips are less than 80 feet wide, a few dozen strokes in either direction is usually enough to break free of the flow [NWS Rip Current Science, 2024].

Once out of the current, angle back toward the beach and ride the incoming waves [NOAA SciJinks, 2024]. If you cannot make progress, wave one arm overhead and yell. Lifeguards and trained beachgoers recognize that signal as a distress call [NOAA, 2024]. Four words to memorize before the toes touch the water: float, parallel, angle, signal.

What to Do if You See Someone Else Caught

The National Weather Service’s Wilmington office, which tracks Carolinas drownings, reports that since 2011, 27 percent of rip current deaths in the region have been bystanders who went into the water trying to rescue someone else [NWS Wilmington, 2025]. More than one in four. Most had no flotation device and no training.

The bystander protocol is the inverse of instinct. Do not enter the water. Even certified lifeguards carry a buoy when they swim a rescue [NOAA, 2024]. An untrained person who swims out to a drowning swimmer almost always becomes the second victim.

Call 911 or alert the nearest lifeguard. Get professional help moving while the swimmer is still on the surface. Then throw something that floats — a boogie board, a cooler lid, a beach ball, an inflatable, a foam noodle. Anything that gives the swimmer rest is worth its weight in oxygen [NOAA Ocean Today, 2024]. Yell instructions while help is on the way: stop fighting, lie back, float, swim parallel. The “Break the Grip” message is short enough to shout from the sand.

Half of all rip current victims in the coastal Carolinas are out-of-state visitors, and only 19 percent live in coastal Carolina communities [NWS Wilmington, 2025]. Horry County’s tourism economy puts millions of those visitors on the sand every summer, and most of them have never seen a rip current. A local resident watching a tourist struggle is statistically the next person at risk if they go in unprepared.

## How to Read the Beach Before You Step In

The City of Myrtle Beach posts color-coded flags at lifeguard stands. Green means generally good conditions. Yellow means medium hazard. A single red means strong surf or currents and swimming is not recommended. Double red means the water is closed.

A blue flag means dangerous marine life is present, typically jellyfish [City of Myrtle Beach, 2025].

Many other coastal jurisdictions and the International Lifesaving Federation use purple for that hazard. Myrtle Beach uses blue. Visitors looking for purple on the Grand Strand will not find one.

Before leaving the house, check the NWS Wilmington Surf Zone Forecast. NWS Wilmington serves the coast from the Little River Inlet south through Georgetown County, and its daily forecast issues a low, moderate, or high rip current risk rating for each Grand Strand segment — Cherry Grove, North Myrtle Beach, Atlantic Beach, Windy Hill, Myrtle Beach, Surfside Beach, and Garden City [NWS Wilmington, 2026].

Lifeguard coverage is split across four jurisdictions. The City of Myrtle Beach staffs guards from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., April 15 through September 30, across roughly 10 miles of beachfront [Lack’s Beach Service, 2025].

North Myrtle Beach Ocean Rescue — the only USLA-certified agency on the Grand Strand — runs about 100 lifeguards across 9 miles in season [City of North Myrtle Beach, 2025]. Horry County’s beaches are required to have lifeguards from May 15 through September 15 [Horry County, 2025]. Surfside Beach typically begins staffing around Easter.

Outside those windows the Grand Strand is unguarded — every evening after 6 p.m. all summer, the entire offseason, and the early-spring weekends warm enough to tempt a swim. The United States Lifesaving Association says rip currents account for more than 80 percent of surf-beach lifeguard rescues [USLA, 2024].

A Predictable Killer in a Predictable Season

The most recent year for which the National Weather Service has published a clean South Carolina breakdown is 2020. That year, eight people died in the South Carolina surf zone — seven from rip currents and one from a longshore current. **Three of the eight died on Horry County beaches**, with two more at Garden City just across the line [NWS, 2020]. More than a third of the state’s surf zone deaths happened on the Grand Strand or its immediate edge.

Named cases put faces on the number. On June 20, 2020, two men drowned in separate rip current incidents the same afternoon: Franklin Morris, 52, near 16th Avenue North in Myrtle Beach, and Allan Eschner, 71, of Surfside Beach, near Holly Beach Access in Garden City [WPDE, 2020]. On August 24, 2024, 15-year-old Edwin Gonzalez-Rosendo of Shannon, North Carolina, was caught in a rip near 12th Avenue South in Myrtle Beach around 5:20 p.m.; his body was recovered the following night near 18th Avenue [Post and Courier, 2024; WMBF News, 2024]. Each death happened during staffed lifeguard hours.

Rip current reports along the Carolina coast peak in September, tied to Atlantic hurricane season. Distant tropical systems that never make landfall push long-period swells onto the Grand Strand and elevate rip risk for days at a time [NWS Wilmington, 2025].

The 2026 Carolinas Rip Current Awareness Week runs April 26 through May 2, set ahead of the Memorial Day tourist surge [WECT, 2025]. Before stepping into the surf this season, check the NWS Wilmington Surf Zone Forecast at weather.gov/ilm/ripRisk, look for the flag at the nearest lifeguard stand, and rehearse the four words that bring swimmers home: float, parallel, angle, signal.

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Frequently Asked Questions

**What do you do if you get caught in a rip current at Myrtle Beach?**

Do not fight the current. Stay calm and float — the rip will not pull you under. Strong swimmers should swim parallel to the beach until clear of the narrow channel (most rips are less than 80 feet wide), then angle back toward shore on the incoming waves. Weak swimmers should roll onto their back and let the current carry them out until it dissipates. If you cannot make progress, wave one arm overhead and yell for help. Four words to remember: float, parallel, angle, signal.

**Are there rip currents in Myrtle Beach today?**

Starting May 22nd, MyrtleBeachSC News will have a monitoring page you can check on your cell phone as you are headed to the Beach – MyrtleBeachSC.com/conditions.

For now, check the NWS Wilmington Surf Zone Forecast at [weather.gov/ilm/ripRisk]for same-day low, moderate, or high rip current risk ratings broken out by Grand Strand segment — Cherry Grove, North Myrtle Beach, Atlantic Beach, Windy Hill, Myrtle Beach, Surfside Beach, and Garden City. Then look for the flag color flying at the nearest lifeguard stand before entering the water.

**How do you spot a rip current?**

The National Weather Service lists four visible signs from shore: a dark, narrow gap in an otherwise continuous line of breaking waves; choppy, churning water heading offshore where the surrounding water is calmer; a plume of sand, foam, or seaweed moving steadily seaward through the surf line; and scalloped notches cut into the beach face where persistent rips form. Polarized sunglasses and an elevated vantage point make all four easier to see.

**What does a blue flag mean at Myrtle Beach?**

In the City of Myrtle Beach, a blue flag means dangerous marine life is present, typically jellyfish. Most other coastal jurisdictions and the International Lifesaving Federation use purple for that hazard, but Myrtle Beach uses blue. The full Myrtle Beach flag system: green is generally good conditions, yellow is medium hazard, single red means strong surf or currents and swimming is not recommended, and double red means the water is closed.

**What is the difference between a rip current and a rip tide?**

They are not the same thing. A rip tide is a tidal flow through an inlet or harbor mouth, driven by the tide. A rip current is a wave-driven river of water that runs straight out to sea through a gap in the breakers, regardless of the tide. NOAA, the National Weather Service, and the United States Lifesaving Association all standardize on “rip current.” The Grand Strand drowning hazard is a rip current, not a rip tide.

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## Further Reading

– [NOAA National Ocean Service — What is a rip current?](https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ripcurrent.html)

– [NOAA / National Weather Service — Rip Current Science](https://www.weather.gov/safety/ripcurrent-science)

– [NOAA — Break the Grip of the Rip](https://www.noaa.gov/break-grip-of-rip)

– [NOAA Ocean Today — Break the Grip of the Rip](https://oceantoday.noaa.gov/ripcurrent/)

– [NOAA SciJinks — How to Escape Rip Currents](https://scijinks.gov/rip-currents/)

– [NWS Wilmington — Carolinas Rip Current Awareness](https://www.weather.gov/ilm/ripcurrents)

– [NWS Wilmington — Surf Zone Forecast and Rip Current Risk](https://www.weather.gov/ilm/ripRisk)

– [NWS — Surf Zone Fatalities in South Carolina, 2020](https://www.weather.gov/safety/ripcurrent-maps-sc-sd20)

– [United States Lifesaving Association — Rip Currents](https://www.usla.org/page/ripcurrents)

– [City of Myrtle Beach — Beach Conditions and Laws](https://www.cityofmyrtlebeach.com/i_want_to/learn_about/beach_conditions.php)

– [City of North Myrtle Beach — Ocean Rescue](https://www.nmb.us/233/North-Myrtle-Beach-Ocean-Rescue)

– [Horry County — About Our Beaches](https://www.horrycountysc.gov/about-our-beaches/)

– [WPDE ABC15 — Two die in Horry County rip currents](https://wpde.com/news/local/two-people-died-by-drowning-in-horry-county-caught-in-rip-current)

– [Post and Courier — Coroner identifies 15-year-old swimmer who washed ashore in Myrtle Beach](https://www.postandcourier.com/myrtle-beach/news/nc-teen-drowns-myrtle-beach-sc/article_26df62e8-6314-11ef-9a2e-1b3e82ff2c78.html)

– [WMBF News — Body of 15-year-old swimmer recovered in Myrtle Beach](https://www.wmbfnews.com/2024/08/26/body-15-year-old-swimmer-recovered-myrtle-beach-coroner-says/)

– [WECT — National Weather Service Inaugural Carolinas Rip Current Awareness Week](https://www.wect.com/2025/03/26/national-weather-service-offer-safety-tips-during-inaugural-carolinas-rip-current-awareness-week/)