Name: Rip Current in Florida, August 4, 2002
Start: 2002-08-04T15:30
End: 2002-08-04T15:30
Location: Florida

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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Mobile, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 4, 2:40 PM CST, 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 4, 2:40 PM CST, 50 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
340 PM CDT SUN AUG 04 2002

...TROPICAL DEPRESSION 2 HAS FORMED OVER THE COASTAL WATERS...

WILL UP POPS AND TWEEK WINDS BASED ON LATEST TRACK INFORMATION...
BRINGING IT UP TO THE AL/MS BORDER BY 18 HRS.

ISSUING COASTAL FLOOD WATCH FROM SANTA ROSA COUNTY FLORIDA WESTWARD.
WILL HOLD OFF ON FLASH FLOOD WATCH RIGHT NOW.  BASED ON RADAR TRENDS
AT THIS TIME AND WHERE WE EXPECT THE HEAVIER BANDED RAINS TO BE
FALLING NEXT 12-24 HOURS...WILL HOLD OFF ON THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH
RIGHT NOW.  MAY HAVE TO CONSIDER ONE ON LATER SHIFT THIS EVENING.

/05

PRELIMINARY CCF NUMBERS...
MOB TB 074/088 073/090 074 05973
PNS TB 074/088 075/090 075 05863
DTS TB 076/087 076/089 076 05853
GZH TB 072/090 070/094 071 05562
2RO TB 072/088 072/092 070 05673
61A TB 071/089 071/093 070 05552

.MOB...
AL...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY GMZ630-650-655-670-675.
     COASTAL FLOOD WATCH ALZ063-064/GMZ630-650 TONIGHT INTO MONDAY.
FL...COASTAL FLOOD WATCH FLZ002-004/GMZ655 TONIGHT INTO MONDAY.
MS...NONE.

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: August 4, 3:30 PM CST
Where: Escambia County, Inerarity Pt
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 30.614, -87.341 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A 54 year old Louisiana man died after he and his two grandchildren were pulled from rough surf at Perdido State Park. The surf was churned up by an area of low pressure moving across the Gulf that later became Tropical Storm Bertha. The drowning occurred along an isolated spot of the beach where there are no life guards and no flag system is in place. The man's grandchildren got into trouble in the strong rip currents produced by the rough surf. He jumped into the water to rescue them and drowned in the rough water. Another family was able to eventually get all three ashore, but the man died.

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	2002-08-04	54	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

More

Every storm in Florida in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Florida, August 2002

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: 5314723.