Rip currents
Rip currents at Surfside Beach
The National Weather Service counted 196 rip current drownings in North and South Carolina from 2000 through 2025, about 8 a year.
This page states a measured record and the escape steps. It states no current risk level and no forecast.
Source: National Weather Service Wilmington (opens in a new tab), checked August 18, 2026.
The measured record
- Carolinas drownings
- 196
- Rip current drownings in North and South Carolina from 2000 through 2025.
- Source: National Weather Service Wilmington (opens in a new tab)
- Yearly average
- About 8
- Rip current drownings a year across that record.
- Source: National Weather Service Wilmington (opens in a new tab)
- Average speed
- 1 to 2 feet per second
- The speed a rip current runs most of the time.
- Source: National Weather Service Wilmington (opens in a new tab)
- Fastest measured
- 8 feet per second
- The fastest speed on record, faster than an Olympic swimmer.
- Source: National Weather Service Wilmington (opens in a new tab)
The United States Lifesaving Association ties about 100 drownings a year and over 80 percent of lifeguard rescues nationwide to rip currents.
Source: National Weather Service Wilmington (opens in a new tab)
How to escape a rip current
A rip current pulls a swimmer away from shore, never under the water.
Learn how to prepare for a beach emergency, help yourself, and help a swimmer from shore.
- Stay calm and save your energy.
- Do not swim against the current.
- Swim across the current, parallel to the shoreline.
- Swim back to shore once you are out of the current.
- Float or tread water calmly if you cannot escape the current.
- Face the shore, wave your arms, and yell for help if you cannot reach the beach.
Source: National Weather Service Wilmington (opens in a new tab)
Only swim at a beach with lifeguards.
The swimming, surfing, and safety rules page states the lifeguard stand season and the stand locations.
Source: National Weather Service rip current safety (opens in a new tab)
Where rip currents form
- Breaks in the sandbars offshore
- Structures such as jetties and piers
- Waves that meet the beach head on, and larger waves with longer periods between them
- The hours around low tide, when rip currents run most often
The Surfside Beach fishing pier is one such structure.
Source: National Weather Service Wilmington (opens in a new tab)
Rip current questions
- What is a rip current?
- A rip current is a narrow stream of water that pulls a swimmer away from shore, never under the water. It runs 1 to 2 feet per second, and up to 8 feet per second at its fastest.
- Source: National Weather Service Wilmington (opens in a new tab)
- How does a swimmer escape a rip current?
- Stay calm and save your energy. Do not swim against the current. Swim across the current, parallel to the shoreline. Swim back to shore once you are out of the current.
- Source: National Weather Service Wilmington (opens in a new tab)
- Where do rip currents form at Surfside Beach?
- Rip currents form at breaks in the sandbars offshore and beside structures such as jetties and piers. The Surfside Beach fishing pier is one such structure. They run most often within a few hours of low tide, and they form in surf of only 1 to 2 feet.
- Source: National Weather Service Wilmington (opens in a new tab)
- When do lifeguards work at Surfside Beach?
- Lifeguard stands run from mid-June through mid-August at ten locations. Only swim at a beach with lifeguards.
- Sources: Town of Surfside Beach swimming, surfing, and safety rules (opens in a new tab), National Weather Service rip current safety (opens in a new tab)
- How far out may a swimmer go at Surfside Beach?
- Swimmers must stay in water no deeper than chest deep. Swimmers must remain within 50 yards of the shoreline.
- Source: Town of Surfside Beach swimming, surfing, and safety rules (opens in a new tab)