T-ball team's beach trip turns terrifying when 3 kids seen drowning, FL cops say
A T-ball team's beach outing turned terrifying when multiple children were heard screaming for help in the Atlantic Ocean, according to officials in North Florida.
It happened Saturday, May 10, in the Jacksonville area, when three children were rapidly whisked away from the beach by a powerful rip current, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said in a May 12 Facebook post.
The resulting chaos included rescues and beach resuscitation occurring simultaneously, officials said.
It started when a boy screaming 'Help me! Help me!' drew attention to children flailing in the water off Huguenot Memorial Park.
'Moments earlier, officers saw beachgoer Steven Insco carrying a small boy and girl out of the water,' the sheriff's office reported.
'Beach Patrol Officer Tyler Sweeney stripped off his vest and gear, grabbed a buoy, and dove into the water to find the boy who was calling for help. At the same time, Officer Billy Crocker tended to an unconscious 8-year-old girl and prepared to begin CPR. After giving her a sternum rub, she began to show signs of recovery.'
Jacksonville Fire and Rescue arrived soon after and fitted the girl with a breathing apparatus and rushed her to a hospital, officials said.
'Meanwhile, Officer Sweeney located the boy in the surf and brought him safely back to shore,' the sheriff's office said.
Crocker visited the 8-year-old girl Sunday at the hospital and was assured she has improved and would soon be released, officials said.
The children were at the beach for a T-ball team outing, officials said. Details of where the team is based were not released.
Rip currents are a common cause of drowning along the nation's beaches, experts say. The currents are powerful channels of water that flow away from shore at speeds of up to 8 feet per second, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
'That is faster than an Olympic swimmer! Drowning deaths occur when people, pulled away from the shoreline, are unable to keep themselves afloat and swim to shore,' NOAA reports. 'This may be due to any combination of fear, panic, exhaustion, or lack of swimming skills. Once people become tired, they can easily go under without flotation to hold onto.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Yahoo
How Hurricane Helene reshaped Lake Lure
It's hard to forget the images from Lake Lure following the destruction of Hurricane Helene. Over 22 inches of rain fell across the Lake Lure Dam watershed, leading to catastrophic damage to the town and surrounding areas. 'We had water getting funneled down through, it was coming around, over top of the bridges here, carrying with it that construction debris, businesses from up in Chimney Rock,' said Dustin Waycaster, Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director for the town of Lake Lure. 'We had campers, cars, propane tanks.' Waycaster told Channel 9's Danielle Miller he had no idea how bad it would be. 'This storm was just so unprecedented, like, even with that plan in place, it was flooding and debris that we've never had to deal with before,' he said. Eight months later, Lake Lure Mayor Carol Pritchett says the town has made significant strides in rebuilding. 'We're trying to make sure that as we repair the damage that was done from this disaster, we're also doing whatever we can to make it better, so that the next time we won't have this much disaster,' Pritchett said. One thing that's been a constant during recovery efforts in Lake Lure is the US Army Corps of Engineers, which estimates that 1 million cubic yards of debris still needs to be removed from the lake. That's about the amount of 300 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Along with dredging Lake Lure, Mayor Pritchett says there are plans to widen where the Broad River meets the lake. 'It was sort of like a nozzle when everything came down the river and shot it out with such great force. So just by widening some of that would slow that down and that would just be a huge, that would be a huge improvement,' Pritchett said. The Lake Lure Dam is also a central part of recovery efforts. While the 100-year-old dam itself did not fail during the storm, Mayor Pro-Tem Dave DiOrio says the town is working on plans to replace it so it can even better handle future weather events. 'Time moves on and we know more about weather patterns and we know more about the potential for flooding and this dam just doesn't meet the normal, modern standards of what we'd want with a dam both with capacity to absorb a flood,' said DiOrio. Helene's flooding rain not only put a spotlight on the need for a stronger dam, but also the need for a better protected communications infrastructure. The town built emergency sirens after the flood of 1996. Jim Proctor watched that flood from his backyard and says they've learned even more since then about how important the lake is for communication in western North Carolina. 'The main trunk line for internet and telephone between Charlotte and Asheville goes through the Hickory Nut Gorge; 90% of the connectivity between Charlotte and Asheville went away from Helene,' Proctor said. Proctor says plans are in place to bury new lines in the roads that are being constructed and to reset emergency management towers so they don't wash away during a flood. The town also hopes to build a new cell tower, so people can stay in touch during these big weather events. 'We'll build it back and it's coming back, but it's just a process we gotta work through,' Waycaster said. (VIDEO: Lake Lure Dam no longer at imminent risk of failure, officials say)
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Yahoo
Rudy Gobert hammers it home
Here is what's left of Gary Hall Jr.'s home in Pacific Palisades in aftermath of LA wildfires Olympic swimmer Gary Hall Jr. lost his home and everything in it during the January wildfires that cost 30 lives and caused more than $250 billion in damage.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Yahoo
World's top golfers expect tough test at US Women's Open
Top-ranked Nelly Korda of the United States hits a tee shot during a practice round at Erin Hills for the US Women's Open (Stacy Revere) Top-ranked Nelly Korda, world number two Jeeno Thitikul and third-ranked Lydia Ko chase a major title none of them has won when the 80th US Women's Open tees off Thursday. Defending champion Yuka Saso of Japan seeks her third US Women's Open crown in five seasons at the par-72, 6,829-yard Erin Hills layout in Erin, Wisconsin. Advertisement "Conditions here can be very difficult," Saso said. "I think it's going to be a good challenge. "It would be nice to win another one. Any other tournament would make me as happy, but if I win again, it would be more special. Winning keeps me motivated." Korda, a two-time major champion, seeks the only major title on home soil that has eluded her. "It's going to test everyone's game, very demanding," Korda said. "The bunkers are not easy. It doesn't really matter how far you hit it. It's all about accuracy at the end of the day. "It's firm. It's fast as well. Even if you think you've hit it good, you can never exhale when you see it stop." Advertisement Ill winds could blow away the chances of contenders, Korda warned. "Weather plays a pretty big role out here, especially with no trees to block it," Korda said. "When it gets windy out here, it's really going to play with your golf ball." Korda has never finished better than eighth in 10 prior starts. "It's the biggest test in the game," she said. "Definitely has tested me a lot. Not even just our games, our mental as well. I love it." Thailand's Jeeno won her first title of the year three weeks ago at the LPGA Mizuho Americas Open. "Game has been a little bit better ball-striking-wise," Jeeno said. "But I think what is doing pretty well is the mental side. I'm just more relaxing, like natural, not forcing anything." Advertisement The 22-year-old chases her first major victory this week. "I think the major win, it should be really tough for me," Jeeno said. "What I want to accomplish, just one major, it's just my process. Definitely going to test my patience. I promise that patience is really the key." - 'A lot of pressure' - New Zealand's Ko, the reigning Olympic champion and a three-time major winner, would love to collect one of only two major prizes to have eluded her. "This would be the one that I'd say, 'Oh, I wish I was a US Women's Open champion," Ko said. "It may seem like a large pool of people that are the past champions, but it's actually quite small, and I would obviously love to be part of that US Women's Open club." Advertisement Ko, who won her 23rd LPGA title in March at Singapore, says playing on unfamiliar courses with limited practice time makes the US Women's Open more difficult to win. "There's a lot of pressure," she said. "I don't know what kind of mindset I'm going to have going into this week but I'm really excited. "I think you need to have a really good short game and an open mind to how you're going to play around this golf course, and for the most part, I feel pretty comfortable. "But I think this is also the type of golf course you need to hit a lot of quality golf shots and also get a little bit of luck." js/bsp
