Virginia Beach, Va. - With thousands of visitors to watch over at the Oceanfront, lifeguards always have a busy job. But this summer kept them on their toes more than usual.
An annual report recently released by the Virginia Beach Lifesaving Service details some of the challenges lifeguards dealt with over the summer.
One of those was a higher than usual number of rescues. More than 600 people had to be pulled from the water.
"That's a big number for us and that's a lot of people happy that we were on duty this summer," said Tom Gill, deputy chief with the Virginia Beach Lifesaving Service.
Although it's not the highest number they've seen, which is around 1,000, it is higher than the average of 500.
Some of the rescues this year were in rough conditions.
Over the summer there were 33 red flag days, which signals dangerous conditions for swimmers.
Though it seems like a lot, Gill says it's not unusual to have that many.
There was also a tornado that destroyed four lifeguard stands and two hurricanes that skirted the coast.
Despite all the rough weather, there were no drowning victims this year in the area of the beach that has lifeguard stands. A man who drowned near 61st St. was in an area without stands that only has lifeguards patrolling on ATV.
One issue they hope to improve takes place out of the water.
Every year they deal with kids who cannot find their parents, and this year was no exception.
Lifeguards had to help more than a thousand lost children.
"As much as we talk about it, every year we still have them. We'd love for people to be more aware of that issue that we have to deal with because it is a distraction for the lifeguards," said Gill.
