The Number of Drownings in The Great Lakes is on the Rise

It's only July and already we've heard about so many people drowning in Michigan this year, especially in the Great Lakes. How and why these accidents keep happening is unclear but one thing is for sure, we've already had more drownings this year compared to all of 2020.

So far there have been 34 drownings in the Great Lakes compared to 25 overall last year. 16 drownings alone happened in Lake Michigan. Just over the 4th of July weekend a man and his friend were walking along a sandbar when it dropped off and he drowned.

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David Benjamin, executive director of The Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project:

If you're struggling in water over your head, your instinct is to fight to survive which you're going to exhaust yourself very quickly.

Instead of panicking and exhausting yourself, he recommends that you flip, float and follow.

Flip over on your back and you float, float with your head above water, calm yourself down from the panic of drowning, conserve your energy and then follow a safe path out of water.

That's the one thing I literally told my son to do while we were at the beach on Lake Superior recently. I told him that if he gets into a situation where he's struggling, just flip over onto his back. That can be a life-saving game-changer. Once you start struggling and then exhaust yourself, they say you have less than 60 seconds before you'll drown.

The number one thing you should do is avoid alcohol and drugs. I've noticed the times that I had alcohol in my system while I was trying to swim, it was so tough to do. I would get so exhausted so fast. I never drink and swim, unless I'm in a pool.