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More than half of 87 Great Lakes drownings this year were in Lake Michigan

12 Nov 2024 5:03 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

At least 87 people drowned in the Great Lakes this year, and more than half of the deaths happened in Lake Michigan, according to the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project. [Chicago Tribune]

“Drowning is way up there in fatality rates … but it doesn’t get treated like a public health issue — which it is,” said Dave Benjamin, co-founder and executive director of the water safety group, which has tracked drownings in the region for more than 10 years. “It’s one of the leading causes of unintentional injury-related death in the nation, in the world. And that’s with a very poor drowning statistic database, so the problem is exponentially worse than anybody even knows.”

More than 1,300 people have drowned in the Great Lakes since the surf rescue project started collecting data in 2010. The highest number of drownings occurred in 2018 when 117 deaths were recorded.

This year, at least 50 people have drowned in Lake Michigan. Since 2010, the group’s annual data indicates about half of all yearly drownings in Lake Michigan have happened on its south end — including Illinois’ lakefront — which is considered particularly dangerous because winds from the north and northeast create large waves and strong currents. The densely populated shores of Lake Michigan’s cities, like Chicago and Milwaukee, as well as the popular tourist destinations at its numerous sandy beaches also contribute to higher drowning risks.

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