Back ||NOAA Home Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., U.S. Navy (Ret.) Statement at Rip Current Event May 24, 2004 Good morning and welcome. It is indeed a great pleasure and privilege to be here. Any place outside of DC is good to be. I am very grateful to the citizens and organizations who put this event together. This community has always exhibited a spirit of togetherness and it’s a tribute to them that they are hosting the event. As part of National Beach Safety Week, we are unveiling with our partners a national media campaign aimed at educating beach-goers about the dangers of rip currents and informing them when those dangers are greatest. NOAA could never do these important ventures alone and I’m grateful to the United States Lifesaving Association for their partnership. I also want to thank, Brigadier General D.L. Johnson head of our weather arm, and Jack Thigpen, extension director of North Carolina Sea Grant part of our research branch. There is a great deal of time and effort at Sea Grant all over our country to get the message to people at the beach. This morning you will see how NOAA touches people’s lives every day. You will hear about rip currents, the work that NOAA is doing to learn more about rip currents, the heroic efforts of our nation’s lifeguards, and a moving personal story that demonstrates how rip currents affect individuals and families. When you think of NOAA you think of the environmental information that we put out which is worth 3 trillion dollars, 30% of the GDP. But today we are here to talk about more than 3 trillion dollars. We are here to talk about rip currents which cause more deaths than hurricanes, or winter weather, or tornadoes, or shark attacks and are second only to heat stress in terms of weather- related deaths. Over 100 lives annually are lost to this dangerous problem and they account for 80 percent of all surf rescues each year. NOAA is the place where we help science gain value for each and every taxpayer in America. One of our major goals in achieving that mission is to better serve society’s needs for weather and water information. Our research team has worked very hard to improve our ability to make rip current outlooks. For example, NOAA’s Ocean Service, the National Weather Service and the University of North Carolina-Wilmington recently joined together to install a new tidal and wave gauge station on the nearby Johnny Mercer Pier – an observation point that will assist in the development of more accurate and timely warnings for hurricanes, other ocean storms, and coastal flooding. The wave gauge -- our experts tell me -- is the perfect equipment needed for enhancing rip current predictions. All this science does not gain value until we get the information into the hands of the people that need it most. In this case, that means reaching the 141 million people who live and work in coastal areas and the 90 million who vacation in them. NOAA already issues Rip Current Threat outlooks in some coastal areas. This information is vital, but clearly we can do more especially by educating the public on the dangers of rip currents. That is why I am proud to be here today to announce this important new campaign. The alliance gathered here today will work to promote rip current awareness throughout the Nation. Together we will work to deliver a unified and consistent public educational message on rip currents. I know each partner in this venture is as proud of it as NOAA is. This project promotes safety while demonstrating the critical role of community outreach through both education and extension. As part of this campaign we are promoting the use of our website so that citizens can receive detailed rip currents information and have developed a brochure to explain the dangers of rip currents to people. Finally, I’m pleased to unveil this sign to be posted at public beaches, which will provide a quick lesson in rip currents for all who visit the beach. Combining all these products, we believe we are providing the necessary tools for the public to enjoy a safe day at the beach. Our hope is that every ocean and Great Lakes community will utilize these materials and services. To help, we are making the sign and brochure template available for communities and individuals to reproduce. They are found our new website: www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov. In closing I’d like to briefly thank our partner, USLA and thank the North Carolina Sea Grant folks for their work here on the ground. Special thanks go to UNC-TV for helping us spread this important information and to Time Warner for their generous donation of time and equipment. Safety is one of the most important priorities at NOAA and it ought to be your number one priority. If this project allows us to educate more people or save lives from rip currents then we can truly say that we have gained value from the work we have done. Thank you all again for coming today. To continue the story of this valuable partnership I’m pleased to welcome a real expert Jim Lushine from NOAA’s National Weather Service.