most dangerous beaches

8/6/2019 Most Dangerous Beaches

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� Shark Attacks/Bites

� New Smyrna Beach, Volusia County, Fla.Runner Up: Hawaii

� The were 112 incidents of shark-human "contact" in 2007, according

to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), released in March 2008by the Florida Program for Shark Research, a University of Floridaorganization that tracks shark behavior worldwide. However, onlyone of those incidents resulted in a human fatality. New Smyrna, aninlet on the eastern coastline of Florida, had the most attacks, with17 bites recorded.



� Pollution

� HacksP

oint Beach, Kent County, Md./Beachwood Beach West, Ocean County, N.J.

� According to the National Research Defense Council, an environmental action group,these two beaches had the highest percentage of samples exceeding national healthstandards in 2006 (they released the data in August 2007). In fact, 60% of the water samples at each location violated public health standards, measured by the amountof disease-causing organisms, also known as pathogens. The most common types of pathogens are those associated with sewage pollution, such as bacteria, viruses andprotozoa.



� Jellyfish Attacks

� Northern Australia

� The coast of Northern Australia serves as a home to chironex fleckeri, alsoknown as the box jellyfish, which has caused 60 deaths in the last 100years, according the Center for Disease Control, Australia. While fatalitiesare rare, about 40 people are hospitalized each year in the NorthernTerritory--a quiet state with just 215,000 residents and over 3,000 miles of coastline--because of the jellyfish. Just last year, a 6-year-old boy died inthe Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin. The box jellyfish has rapidly acting venomthat can cause cardiac dysfunction (resulting in loss of consciousness),

cardiac arrest and death within five minutes of a sting.



� Rip Current Drowning

� Brevard County, Fla.Runner Up: Volusia County, Fla.

� In 2007, 10 people drowned in Brevard County due to the rip currentalone, according to the United States Life Saving Association.Beaches that reported fatalities included Merritt Island and Coco.That's more than any other county in the U.S. All 10 deaths weresurfers exploring waters where lifeguards are not on hand. VolusiaCounty, also on the east coast of Florida, just north of Brevard,came in second with five drownings.



� Boating Accidents

� Florida

Runner Up: California� Data by county or beach is not available, but according to the U.S. Coast Guard'sBoating Safety Division, the state of Florida reported 633 boating accidents and 68fatalities in 2006, the highest number of any state in the country (2007 data is not yetavailable). California reported the second highest number of accidents, 569, and 11fatalities. Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman, director of the International HurricaneResearch Center & Laboratory for Coastal Research at Florida InternationalUniversity in Miami, says that the clear reason is activity--more people are boating inthese two states than anywhere else.



� Lightning

� Florida

Runner up: Colorado� Florida tops off the list as the most dangerous spot for lightning, according

to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a federal agencyfocused on the condition of the oceans and the atmosphere. Between 1997and 2006, there were 71 deaths caused by lightning in Florida, more thanany other state. Popular beaches such as New Smyrna and Clearwater areoften evacuated and then closed for days because of the threat of lightning.While Colorado came in second with 30 lightning deaths, the second-closest beach state was Texas, with 25 deaths.

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