Source: Radio New Zealand
Lifeguards will start patrolling Tauranga waters a week early. Cody Keepa for Surf Life Saving NZ
Lifeguards will start patrolling Tauranga waters a week early, due to a spike in serious accidents.
Surf Life Saving warns that the warm weather has created a perfect storm of hidden hazards, such as rips.
A man drowned at Mount Maunganui beach on Wednesday evening.
Regional manager Avan Polo said the hazards had prompted Surf Life Saving to approach the Tauranga City Council to start paid lifeguard patrols on 1 December, rather than 8 December, as originally planned.
“We’re experiencing quite a different type of water movement than we’ve had in a number of years, which is creating a number of rips and channels, all forming and moving the water around,” he said.
“It may look calm on the top, but water moving underneath is just creating a lot of problems.”
He said the hidden risks were catching swimmers by surprise.
“We’ve already seen multiple serious incidents in the past few days alone, including one fatal drowning,” he said. “Bringing the service forward will help save lives.
“Given the rising number of people heading to our beaches and the serious incidents already occurring, early coverage from surf lifeguards is both necessary and urgent.”
Polo said Surf Life Saving would deploy three mobile patrol teams every afternoon from Mount Maunganui to Papamoa.
He said the patrols usually continued for 11 weeks, but this season would last 12 weeks, given the early start.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand