CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Churning waves and rip currents are two things that could turn a holiday outing into a tragedy if you aren't being careful.
Port Aransas lifeguard Ford Blalock is prepared to save the day. With dangers lurking in the gulf waters over the Fourth of July weekend he may end up having to save a life for two.
"If you find yourself caught in a rip current, find yourself being pulled away from shore, your number one choice is to start swimming parallel to the shore," Blalock said. "Start swimming anyway, north or south to make sure you're not swimming against it."
Jackson Roblee is the Port Aransas Surf Rescue Manager and he and Blalock are going to be watching the waters closely because of the threat of rip currents. They say even an experienced swimmer can run into trouble.
"Really talk to your kids about the safety of the water. If we have a red flag flying, make sure your kids really aren't going past where they can stand," Roblee said. "It's very quick, especially some of our smaller children out here can get picked up by waves and pulled out, and it doesn't even need to be a rip current to pull them out."
Port Aransas Police Chief Scott Burroughs said once he and his officers hit the beach on patrol, one of their number one calls happens to be missing children.
"Children getting away from their parents is a big issue for us. It's a real drain on our resources because everybody responds. So it pulls all the lifeguards and pulls all the police officers and it pulls any firefighters to go find those kids," Burroughs said.
Burroughs is asking parents to keep an eye on their children and make sure they know where they are every second of the time they are along the beach.
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