Double red flags are flying on beaches from Alabama to Destin on Tuesday, and the prospects remain strong that a good number of them will fly through Thursday as high surf advisories are expected in the Gulf of Mexico.
The flags mean the Gulf waters are closed to the public. The beaches are still open for the public to visit, but they cannot enter the water, officials say.
“People should be safe by heeding the beach flags, and following the lifeguard’s instructions,” said Cody Lindsey, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Mobile.
Beach safety officials in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach said the public was staying out of the Gulf on Tuesday.
There were several “minor” rescues on Monday and a 23-year-old Mississippi man drowned in Gulf Shores on Sunday while a single red flag flew warning beachgoers about the dangers of the Gulf.
“We don’t want to close the water,” said Joethan Phillips, beach safety chief with Gulf Shores Fire Rescue.
“When we fly the double reds, we indicate that it’s too dangerous to be out there. We want people to take it seriously. The sun is shining, and people want to get into the water. We know people pay a lot of money to come down here. But we want to make sure they go home safely.”
Brett Lesinger, beach safety division chief for the City of Orange Beach, said most people have been compliant as the beach “is not very friendly” with winds whipping at 20-25 mph, and surf rising to about 5-7 feet. A typical surf in the Gulf in Alabama is around 2 feet, Lesinger said.
“It’s very windy and tough to be out there very long,” he said.
Lesinger said that a few people were injured by the size of the surf that was building on Monday.
He indicated that the single red flags, which flew on Monday - of which warn of high hazards in the Gulf, such as high surf and strong rip currents -- are to be “by no means, taken lightly” and that only the “strongest swimmers” should attempt to be in the water.
“It’s unfair to the people who are good enough to be in the water to close it down all the time,” Lesinger said. “It ruins it for them.”
Lindsey said the rough waters are related to two things - a potential tropical cyclone building in the Gulf and expected to make landfall Thursday in Mexico and impacting South Texas, as well as a high-ridge system building in the Atlantic Ocean. The combination, he said, is churning up high surf along the northern Gulf.
High surf advisories are expected through Wednesday and into Thursday, with a rip current risk lasting through Friday. It will be up to lifeguards in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores to determine if the beaches should remain open or closed.
“Considering the high surf, it would not surprise me they will be closed (Wednesday) with the double red flags (flying),” Linsey said.
Phillips said that Gulf Shores will assess the Gulf’s conditions on Wednesday morning, but he anticipates keeping the double red flags up. “That’s the anticipation,” he said.
Lesinger said for beach safety chiefs, the biggest guiding factor on whether to close the beaches is whatever the NWS reports for high surf advisories.
“A 5-foot surf on our coastline is big,” he said.
It’s the first time double red flags have flown along the Alabama beaches since April, and only the eighth time out of the past 100 days or so in Orange Beach, Lesinger said.
“The tropical storm is like 600 miles away but we are by no means the only beach flying double reds,” Lesinger said. “You can look at any beach from Gulf Shores to Panama City, and they are flying double reds right now. You’re talking about a massive storm.”
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