The deadliest rip currents in the United States claimed their latest victims on Friday when three young friends were swept to death within minutes of entering the water.
Harold Denzel Hunter, 25, Jemonda Ray, 24, and Marius Richardson, 24, were among a group of six who left their homes in Birmingham, Alabama, to spend a weekend at an AirBnB next to Panama City Beach in Florida.
A teenager had died at the scene the night before, but the young friends were desperate to get into the water after their long journey despite a single red flag warning of danger.
Ten minutes later the first 911 call was made, but two hours passed before the men were found and taken to the hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
“I am praying for his family and ask you to do the same,” Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford said in a Facebook post. “It’s a great tragedy.”
Jemonda Ray disappeared with her friends minutes after entering the water
Ray and his cousin Marius Richardson were like “peas in a pod,” according to Ray’s mother.
Ray and Richardson were cousins who grew up like brothers, their family said. al.comwhile Hunter was one of his friends.
Ray, who graduated from Jackson-Olin High School in Birmingham, worked at Amazon and had a son, while Richardson was married with a two-year-old son.
“He kept everyone with smiles on their faces,” Ray’s mother Iris said of her son. ‘He was the sweetest person. He made sure to see me every day.
“The detective told me they were trying to get back to shore, but the current got the best of them.”
Rip currents killed more people in Panama City than anywhere else in the United States last year, according to the National Weather Service.
They are defined as strong, localized and narrow currents of water that flow directly away from the shore, like a river flowing into the sea.
Eight of Florida’s 30 deaths occurred at the site 100 miles west of Tallahassee, and Friday’s deaths brought to six the death toll on the state’s beaches last week alone.
Nineteen-year-old Ryker Milton was visiting from Oklahoma, where he was in his first year of online seminar training before he died in a rip current in Panama City Beach on Thursday.
Harold Hunter, 25, who worked for a tire and brake company, leaves behind a young son and daughter.
The three friends were found about a half mile from where they entered the water.
Dozens of volunteers shone their flashlights into the water to help in the search.
And Pennsylvania couple Brian Warter, 51, and Erica Wishart, 48, drowned in front of their six children when they became trapped in a high tide that same day north of West Palm Beach.
Richardson’s wife was on Friday’s trip along with Ray’s girlfriend and one of Hunter’s cousins.
Hunter, who worked for a tire and brake company, leaves behind a young son and daughter.
“He was the life of the party,” said his sister, Selina Black.
“He was always smiling. He wanted everyone to be up, even when he was down, he was our personal DJ. “This was all so unexpected and hit the family hard.”
Iris Richardson said Ray and his cousin Marius had grown up together and were “inseparable”.
“It was two peas in a pod,” he added.
“Marius was also a very hard worker,” he added. ‘He was always taking care of his family. He was a good person.’
Dozens of volunteers scoured the water for signs of the three young men as a search helicopter shined a beam from above.
The three men were found separated about a half-mile from where they had entered the water at 8 p.m.
“They checked into the rental vehicle and ran out into the water,” Sheriff Ford wrote the next day on Facebook.
‘This morning I am very saddened by the loss of three young visitors to our community.
“Last night I saw so many people, including visitors to our community, gather on the beach to desperately search for them,” he added. ‘The acts of bravery by the first responders were amazing.
The men died just a day after Brian Warter, 51, and his girlfriend Erica Wishart, 48, drowned in front of their six children after getting caught in a rip current north of West Palm Beach.
‘Many of our rescue swimmers from the Sheriff’s Office, Bay County Emergency Services and Panama City Beach waded into the dark and dangerous waters for over two hours to attempt to rescue and search for the young men.
“I am concerned about the emotional toll these situations take on first responders, as I know I am struggling with it too.”