Rip Current in Florida, September 17, 2000

Name: Rip Current in Florida, September 17, 2000
Start: 2000-09-17T18:30
End: 2000-09-17T18:35
Location: Florida

September 17, 2000 · NWS MOB · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 rip current, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Escambia

When: September 17, 6:30 PM CST to 6:35 PM CST
Where: Escambia County, Pensacola Beach
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 30.614, -87.341 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Rough seas resulting from Tropical Storm Gordon, which was moving across the extreme Eastern Gulf of Mexico, claimed the life of a Louisiana man, swimming near Pensacola Beach. The man and his sister were swimming with a bodyboard, when they began having trouble in the rough seas. The woman was able to swim ashore but the man disappeared in the rough surf. His body was not found until Tuesday morning.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Rip Current, Escambia	2000-09-17	23	Male	In Water	Direct

What these are

Rip Current: A narrow, fast current flowing away from the beach that caused a drowning or rescue.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Florida in 2000 Every state in 2000 This day in weather history Warnings in Florida, September 2000

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5156676.