But as we were talking about,
we saw some social media post about
Lake MI being one of the most
dangerous lakes in the country,
if not the the deadliest lake in the country.
How how do those numbers reflect to reality?
Well, you need to remember that lake MI is a.
It's a huge body of water.
It's more like an inland
sea than than it is a lake.
So to try and compare Lake MI to,
you know to Higgins Lake or to Lake Tahoe.
Or you know some some other
lake across the country.
The first thing of note is that just
by sheer size alone it it will have
more drownings because there's just
simply more more surface area and.
To that, the fact that there's
a huge population density down
at the at the southern end of of
Lake MI all the way from the Grand
Rapids area all the way through
Chicago up around to like Kenosha,
WI, and and even Milwaukee, WI.
So I wanted one of the biggest takeaways
is that anybody of water can be dangerous.
Anybody of water can be deadly.
The fact that Lake MI is one of,
if not the most deadliest lake
in the in the United States,
is based mostly on the fact.
Of of its size and its orientation
and the presence of a large
population in the area.
Let's Umm, I guess, confine the
question to the Great Lakes.
How does how does Lake MI rank
among those larger bodies of water
that we have here in the US? So so
typically we averaged just under 100 fatal
drownings every year in the five Great
Lakes were 80 high 80s right now depending
on on which year we're talking about,
and like Michigan typically has about half,
so like Michigan is the most has the
most drownings of of all. 5 Great Lakes.
Almost all the other four put together,
so it is much more dangerous than
the other Great Lakes, but again,
a lot of that has to do with both the
population density down at the South
end and the the north-south orientation,
which is where you know our storms
typically move, just like they are today.
You know, from this,
the southwest to the northeast,
and as they come across the lake,
they create dangerous currents and high wind,
wind and wave activity on on the lakes.
Do you think people in general underestimate
Lake MI when it comes to the danger?
I think people almost universally
underestimate the dangers of lake MI,
and I think unfortunately they
also overestimate their their
own ability in the water.
And it's something that that we try to.
Remind people of every opportunity
that we get is that you may be a
great swimmer in the the backyard
condo pool or you may even be a
lap swimmer at the the local YMCA,
but that doesn't prepare you for
the kind of conditions that can
occur on one of the Great Lakes,
especially Lake MI.
The water in the pool is always warm,
it's always flat.
It's always a set distance
from one side to the other.
The bottom is always consistent
and so it's much, much safer.
And when you get to Lake MI.
Even if you're an experienced
lapse swimmer at a pool,
swimming in colder water and
swimming in rougher water and
swimming where there are dangerous
currents and waves and wind is a
completely different experience,
and it's much more dangerous
than you need a specific skill
set in order to survive.
What's some advice you would give to
people to keep them safe along the lakes
and in in the water throughout the year?
One of the one of the most important
things that that we always push
is a drowning prevention strategy
called flip float and follow.
You know, every child in America
knows how to stop, drop and roll.
If their clothing catches on fire,
we do fire drills in schools.
We do lockdown drills and tornado
drills and some places in Illinois
and Indiana do earthquake drills
and the fact is that drowning
will kill more people than fire,
lightning, tornadoes,
school shooters and earthquakes combined.
And most people don't have
a strategy like stop,
drop and roll if they get in trouble.
In the water.
So we want people to understand
that if they flip over onto their
back that will allow them to breathe
whenever they want to keep their
head above the surface of the water,
float to calm yourself down,
float to conserve your energy.
Float to understand that panic
is the first stage of drowning,
and if you can prevent panic,
you're far better off and then float
to notice is the current carrying you
in one One Direction or another and
then follow a path back to safety
where you're avoiding fighting
against the current because the
current is stronger than you can.
So flip float and follow is a life
saving strategy that we push all
throughout the Great Lakes region.
Is there anything else about the
dangers of lake MI or the the safety
advice that we haven't talked about
yet that you want to pass along?
Maybe we could go on for
hours and hours and hours,
but you know the weather plays
a a tremendous part in some
of the drownings that we have.
We know that on warm windy weekends
we will have fatal roundings on on
the Great Lakes it's because there
will be more people at the beach.
They won't understand the
dangerous currents and our.
We have a dangerous current explainer
video that's available on YouTube.
We can send you the link to that
so you can share it and people need
to understand that that when the
weather changes and it changes very
rapidly here in the Great Lakes
region that the conditions at the
lake will also change and can be
deteriorate very very quickly.
And you know,
we've we tracked the drownings
on the Great Lakes since 2010.
There have been more than 1100
fatal drownings on the on the five
Great Lakes and only 13 of them
were wearing life jackets so.
We're big advocates for life jacket use,
not only if you're kayaking
or boating or sailing,
but even if you're just going to the beach.
If you're taking your children
to the beach and you have more
than than than one child,
so it's hard to keep them within arms reach,
then put them in a life jacket
and it will keep them much,
much safer if somebody gets into trouble
and you notice that somebody's in trouble,
have someone call 911 try
to reach something to them,
or throw something to them rather
than swimming out to them.
But if you do make the choice to
actually try to make a swimming rescue,
take something with you.
Floats,
you know.
Every year we have people who
are would be rescuers who end
up fatally drowning themselves.
As they attempt to to rescue somebody,
and if they would have taken
something with them that floats
if they would have worn a life
jacket or they would have taken
a soccer ball or a boogie board,
or something that floats with them,
then they may have been able to save
both the life their own life and
the life of the drowning victim.
Umm? Two more quick things here. Real quick.
Just because I'm looking more at the
the social media posts that we are.
Using this sort of the basis for the story,
do you have any information about where?
Groundings are. Dangers in lake
MI rank on a on a global scale.
You know drowning
is a leading cause of
accidental death in children,
one to four in the United States
and it's the second leading cause
of accidental death in children
under 15 in the United States.
So we do know that that some third world
countries have a huge huge problem with
drowning that that pay makes the the
Great Lakes pale in comparison to to them.
But you know it, it's it's a.
It's a big problem.
Really, if we had any other incident,
whether it was a mass shooting or you know,
kind of an epidemic kind of thing where you
know we were to lose 100 people in in a year,
that that would be, that would be a big deal.
You know,
the the drawings on the Great Lakes happen,
typically one at a time or in small clusters,
two or two or three on days that
the dangerous conditions occur.
Had they all happened at the at
the same time, it would get much,
much more news coverage than it.
Than it does, and I think in some ways.
That's unfortunate because it's
this little trickle effect where
you know eighty 8590 people a year
doesn't sound like a great deal,
but if you're a loved one of someone who
had a fatal drowning on on the Great Lakes,
it affects you directly.
And all of these drowning
victims have mothers and fathers,
and many of them have siblings.
Oftentimes the siblings are with
them at the lake when they,
when they have a a fatal rounding
the bystanders.
And there would be rescuers and
the professional rescuers.
All of these people are affected,
so it's not only then the number
of drownings that we have,
but the ramifications for the
drownings go far beyond that.
So,
with a 1100 victims over the last
10 years doesn't seem like a lot,
but I guarantee you that the
actual number of victims is in the
in the 10s of thousands.
Their social media specifically
made a statement that it was in the
top 10 most dangerous in the world.
Is that something that?
We can verify or is that?
Umm? Probably more just the
number they tossed out. Yeah,
you know, I don't know where
that statistic came from, I know.
There was a study done probably 20 years
ago that identified the southern end of
Lake MI as being one of the most dangerous
places in the whole United States,
both not just for lakes,
but but for any beaches.
But I haven't seen any research
recently about that. And, again,
drowning can happen in a backyard pool.
It can happen at A at a small inland lake,
so it's very important that people take water
safety seriously and that they simply follow.
Is a precautions and and and
a lot of it is is well known.
You know it goes from alone,
don't drink and dive, you know.
Make sure that you have a a buddy with you.
Make sure that you know how to swim.
Wear your life jacket.
Don't just you know,
pack it in your kayak or on
your stand up paddle board.
Actually wear it.
It's kind of like a parachute.
You may never need it,
but if if you need it,
it's got to be on and it's got
to be available.
So we we love to see people
actually wearing their life jackets.
In a final question that it just
kind of something that I've thought
for a while and I just wanted to
see what your thoughts on it were.
I feel people when it comes to the lakes.
They hear the term lake and they
they don't give it the type
of respect they would give.
A notion is that something
you guys absolutely
we we we call them lakes.
But they are far more like inland seas.
They behave much more like inland seas.
We don't have ties.
The ties we have a little
tiny tides, you know,
little little one or two inch tides.
But we do have a significant wave action
and with the the length of the lake
being 300 miles we call that fetch.
So the distance.
The wind can travel over water is 300 miles,
so you can generate.
Large waves on on the Great Lakes,
and so they become very problematic
and even on days where the wind
is offshore that poses specific
problems that it's not wave action.
That's a problem.
But if you're on a kayak or
on an inflatable and the wind
is blowing away from shore,
it can carry you very fast and very
far away from shore and make it much
more difficult for you to get back.
So it's much more dangerous than you
know than than than most inland lakes
and people need to respect that.
And people need to understand that.
It's far more like the inland
seas than it is an actual lake.
Hey Bobby, I appreciate you
again taking some time to
talk with us this afternoon.
Absolutely thank you. Yep,
take care of my friend. You too.