Lake Michigan is America's deadliest lake — yet lifeguards are nowhere to be found

Yahoo

6 days ago

Lake Michigan is the deadliest lake in America, statistics show. Yet, there are no lifeguards at 99% of our state's public beaches, all while coastal towns rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars in beach parking fees, and our state collects millions more in vehicle park permits and billions in tourism dollars.
None of that money, however, is being spent on lifeguarding a lake that has claimed more than 640 lives over the last 15 years.
Though public pressure and ongoing legal disputes in places like the city of South Haven appear to be gaining momentum in the fight to put trained eyes back on our powerful and often unpredictable Great Lake, any move to improve beach safety along Michigan's western shoreline may still be at least a year away.
Across Michigan, beach safety advocates and grieving families have been pushing for lifeguards for years — at public meetings, in court and more recently in campaigns on Facebook. However, most towns and state officials have opted for cheaper alternatives — like beach flags and light signals — which could be sending an unintended message you won't see on any Pure Michigan billboard: Enter Lake Michigan at your own risk.
It's a harsh reality in the Great Lakes State since the state parks got rid of lifeguards in 1993, and most municipal beaches eventually followed suit, all citing money, liability and staffing shortage concerns. In a state of more than 1,000 beaches, and where tourism is big business — drawing in 128 million visitors who spent $29.3 billion in 2023 alone — there currently are only two public Lake Michigan beaches with lifeguards: one in St. Joseph, the other in New Buffalo.
"This is less than third-world," said Illinois lifeguard advocate Dave Benjamin, founder and executive director of the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project (GLSRP), a nonprofit that tracks drownings in all five Great Lakes, and has been pushing for years to bring lifeguards back to Michigan.
The city of Chicago has them. So do the states of Wisconsin and Indiana. All three border Lake Michigan, which accounts for nearly half of the 1,362 fatal drownings that have occurred in all of the Great Lakes since 2015, according to the GLSRP.
State and local officials, meanwhile, maintain the vast majority of Lake Michigan visitors are swimming safely, and that lifeguards have grown obsolete here for a number of reasons: They're too hard to find, cost too much and can create liabilities, they say. The state and beach towns also put emphasis on personal responsibility: If swimmers want to stay safe, they say, they should follow the posted signs and flags, and avoid the water on high-risk days.
For drowning prevention advocates, this approach to beach safety isn't just failing, it's putting more people in danger. Innocent bystanders and vacationers have become fill-ins for lifeguards, risking their own lives to help struggling swimmers, with several dying in the process: Parents going in after their children. Good Samaritans helping strangers.
"The number of deaths that have occurred ... is just extraordinary. Throughout the state of Michigan, it's just a really sad situation," said San Diego lifeguard advocate Chris Brewster, chairman of the National Certification Committee of the U.S. Lifesaving Association (USLA), which certifies lifeguard programs across the country.
Brewster, who came to Michigan in April to help South Haven develop a potential lifeguard program, said he has a message for the "Water Wonderland" state: Get lifeguards. Your system isn't working.
"This is a failed experiment," Brewster said of the move to eliminate lifeguards.
Moreover, he stressed: "When you have a tourist economy that is built around a beach environment, there comes with it an obligation to safeguard the people who are using that water," Brewster said. "I'm not suggesting that every inch of the coastline of Michigan needs to be guarded. … But you strategically pick the areas where the most people are at. Sadly, Michigan knows where these hot spots are."
One of them is South Haven.
Grieving parents win back-to-back court rulings: 'Their deaths cannot just be for nothing'
Perhaps nowhere else is the lifeguard issue more heated than in the popular Lake Michigan beach town of South Haven, where three grieving families are suing the city over the drowning deaths of three teenagers in two separate lawsuits. In both cases, the families said they believe lifeguards could have saved their loved ones' lives, while maintaining that statistics back them up: Since getting rid of lifeguards in 2001, South Haven has had 12 drowning deaths, compared with only two drowning deaths occurring in the 40 years when lifeguards were used.
Against the backdrop of the litigation is a yearslong campaign to bring lifeguards back to South Haven, an effort that gained momentum in 2022 following the drowning deaths of four people in less than a month — a Michigan State University couple, a 7-year-old Texas boy and his 33-year-old uncle, who fatally drowned trying to save him. All died in the turbulent waters of Lake Michigan while vacationing in South Haven, where public outrage over the lack of lifeguards has been building.
South Haven officials maintain the city is working on a plan to add 19 lifeguards to its two beaches by Memorial Day weekend 2026, estimated to cost $619,000 the first year and $383,000 the second year. But, for now, the city still is researching the plan, its costs and logistics, most recently approving a $45,000 contract in June with a planning firm that would help roll out the program.
The USLA has proposed a lifeguard program for South Haven that would cost $243,000, but the city rejected that plan.
In the last year, meanwhile, two judges have rejected the city of South Haven's requests to have those two fatal drowning lawsuits dismissed on governmental immunity grounds, one as recently as April. A key issue in these lawsuits, according to court records, is that South Haven is making money off of its beaches through parking and vendor fees — more than $200,000 in one year alone — yet the revenue is being spent elsewhere. This, two judges have concluded, means governmental immunity doesn't apply.
One judge also took issue with South Haven's use of its beach warning flags. Specifically, in rejecting the city's immunity defense, Van Buren Circuit Court Judge Susan Metzger cited the city for "misuse and mismanagement" of its beach flags. In doing so, she concluded that plaintiffs may be able to prove that a young couple may not have drowned had red flags been flying that day, instead of yellow.
For the victims' families, the rulings are a sign that change may be on the way as they fight to bring lifeguards back to Michigan, starting with South Haven.
"Their deaths cannot just be for nothing. ... My daughter had a lot of ideas in her head. She was going to go places," said Lisa MacDonald, of Chesterfield Township, whose 19-year-old daughter Emily MacDonald fatally drowned while vacationing with her boyfriend's family in South Haven in 2022. Emily's college sweetheart boyfriend, Kory Ernster, 22, of Novi, also fatally drowned that day.
The Michigan State University couple had ventured over to the beach to spend their last vacation day by the water. It was a yellow-flag day, meaning there was a medium hazard due to moderate surf and/or currents, and there were waves. They took a selfie near the shoreline, posted it on Instagram, then entered the water. About 15 minutes after posting their smiling faces on social media, with Kory carrying Emily on his back, a bystander pulled their bodies to shore. A current had carried them toward a pier, and within minutes they were pulled under, reports show.
"I just remember screaming," Lisa MacDonald, Emily's mother, recalled of learning the tragic news that day. The Macomb County mother was on the other side of the state school-supply shopping for Emily when she got the mind-numbing phone call. "I felt like someone just took my life. … I just kept screaming, 'No, this can't be happening!' "
Three years later, the still-grieving mother is hell-bent on making a difference. She's determined to bring lifeguards back to South Haven and hold the city accountable for her daughter's death.
"She wanted to be a vet," MacDonald, 56, said through tears in a recent interview. "Kory and Emily deserve this. I can't save the world, I'm not delusional. But if I can save a family from going through what we've gone through — then all of this is worth it."
Crystal LeDuke, who also is suing the city of South Haven over the 2020 drowning death of her 18-year-old son, Brandon Chambers, said she is equally elated about the court rulings thus far. Though she said she remains cautiously optimistic.
"It is going to be a long road," LeDuke said after a judge ruled in her favor last year. "… we feel very fortunate to have made it this far in our Justice for Brandon mission, which is to get justice in the way of change."
Brandon Chambers died on Labor Day weekend 2020 after being pulled into a rip current, then clinging to a buoy for a few minutes before disappearing into the water. His body was recovered a week later.
His mother alleges officials knew conditions were treacherous — two children had to be rescued from rip currents there two days earlier — but red flags had not been posted where her son went into the water. While red flags were posted on nearby sections of the beach, her lawsuit alleges the city should have known the entire area was unfit for swimming.
'If you're charging a parking fee, then you should have lifeguards'
Over the last 15 years, Lake Michigan's eastern coastline was the site of at least 136 fatal drownings, according to a Free Press analysis of statistics compiled by the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project. Nearly half of those Lake Michigan fatal drownings occurred in five cities: Holland, which saw 15 fatal drownings; Muskegon, 14; Grand Haven, 12; South Haven, 11, and Ludington, 11. Another 45 beaches up and down the coast saw at least one drowning.
Most of the victims were swimmers overcome by choppy waters, powerful rip currents or big waves. Others included people who jumped off piers, were washed off piers, or fell out of boats or kayaks while not wearing life jackets.
The lifeguarded beach in St. Joseph, meanwhile, saw no fatal drownings while lifeguards were on duty over the last 15 years; the lifeguarded-New Buffalo beach saw one fatal drowning in 2013.
At Holland State Park, which is run by the state and hasn't seen lifeguards in three decades, there's talk among Park Township officials of implementing a lifeguard pilot program. Though officials say it's unlikely to launch before 2026, and that state funding and liability still are potential obstacles.
On the liability front, lifeguard advocates say Michigan law and court rulings offer what they view as "substantial" protection for governmental agencies who fear getting sued over a lifeguard's actions or inactions. For example, over the last decade, the Michigan Supreme Court has twice ruled in favor of governments that got sued over drowning deaths involving lifeguards.
In 2015, the high court ruled that a government-employed lifeguard was not liable for the death of a 19-year-old swimmer with a learning disability and autism, who fatally drowned while swimming in a pool at the Michigan Career and Technical Institute.
In 2021, the court issued a similar ruling in concluding that a lifeguard at the Troy Community Center was not liable for the death of a 31-year-old disabled man who fatally drowned at the community center's pool.
On the financial front, lifeguard advocates argue there's enough money to pay for lifeguards — but the state and towns just don't want to spend it, they say.
For Benjamin, of the GLSRP, who survived a drowning experience while surfing in Lake Michigan the day after Christmas 2010, the answer is simple: "If you have a parking lot and you're charging a parking fee, then you should have lifeguards."
Muskegon makes $1 million a year off beach parking, but doesn't spend it on lifeguards
In 2010, the city of Muskegon eliminated its lifeguard program, citing a savings of $26,000 a year.
Today, the city makes an estimated $1 million a year through its beach parking program instituted at Pere Marquette five years ago, according to public records obtained by the Free Press.
Still, the beach has no lifeguards. Instead, in 2021, the city installed what look like traffic lights on both beach restroom buildings, which also have a beacon on their roofs that flash red when it's too hazardous to swim. The $13,000 lighted system pulls data in real time from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association. That means the lights change on their own, in real time, as the lake conditions change, eliminating the need for people to change the flags when the changes occur.
And when it comes to Lake Michigan, conditions can change very quickly, from shifting waves to hidden powerful currents — details that have been cited by multiple entities in designating Lake Michigan the "deadliest" and "most dangerous" lake in America. This No. 1 ranking has been made by multiple groups, including USA By the Numbers, Pond Informer, AZ Animals and the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, though local officials say they fear out-of-towners may not be aware of this when they visit their beaches.
"For people who aren't familiar with the water, it's really worth your time and effort to spend a little time learning about how currents work, how undertows work," Muskegon City Manager Jonathan Seyferth, a former lifeguard, said in a recent interview. "It looks like it's a lot of fun when the waves are big, but that's when it's the most dangerous."
Officials stress personal responsibility: Stay out of the water on high-risk days. Wear a life jacket
Seyferth said that while he understands the concerns and positions of people asking for lifeguards, "I don't think that's the direction we'd be going in.
"I completely understand their point of view, and we empathize with it," Seyferth said. But he said Muskegon's lighted warning system, with its high visibility, reaches and impacts a lot of people.
"It's not to discount the value of a lifeguard. It's really looking at how do we have the best impact that we can," Seyferth said, noting he's also working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a proposed plan to install gates at the entrance to Muskegon's pier to prevent people from walking on it when waves are crashing over.
As for using beach parking revenues for lifeguards, Seyferth said that money is already earmarked for beach maintenance — like flattening the sand with tractors, daily garbage pickup and bathroom cleaning, and for a shuttle bus that brings east-side residents to the beach.
Moreover, Seyferth said, finding seasonal employees to work as lifeguards for the summer is challenging.
St. Joseph official: 'We really got a lot of lifeguards stepping up'
Berrien County Parks Director Jill Adams, who oversees the $70,000 lifeguard program at Silver Beach County Park in St. Joseph, knows this staffing challenge all too well. Still, she said, the county has managed to find lifeguards year after year. "It's a challenging question for sure," Adams said, referring to the angst of finding lifeguards. "Every year, we've always wondered if we're going to have enough. But for whatever reason this year, we really got a lot of lifeguards stepping up, and it's worked out very well. We've always had a good team."
Currently, Silver Beach County Park has 14 lifeguards who work seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with a starting salary of $14 an hour. On red flag days, the lifeguards are not in the towers, but walk the beach educating people about the dangers of currents and instructing those in the water to get out.
"The overall goal for the Silver County beach guards is to prevent adverse water incidents from happening," Adams said. "It's all about the prevention."
Adams, too, also stressed the importance of personal responsibility.
"Lifeguards aren't babysitters. Parents have to watch their children very closely," said Adams, who also urges people to wear life jackets in Lake Michigan, to avoid swimming on high-risk days and to never swim alone.
"None of these things have to do with a lifeguard," Adams said, noting lifeguards are an "additional tool" to keep people safe. "People still need to take responsibility for themselves."
Seyferth agrees. He said Muskegon's approach to keeping swimmers safe is making sure it's keeping them informed about the dangers of the water. The lighted system does that, he said, adding personal responsibility also plays a role.
If the light is red, don't go in. If it's yellow, make sure you know what you're up against, he said.
"Even going up just past your ankles and you're feeling that pull behind your leg — that's telling you there's some kind of current there that could take you out," said Seyferth, who offers these safety recommendations to visitors: Look at a YouTube video on how to get out of a strong current. Read up on rip currents. Use a life jacket. Be mindful of structures like a pier.
"The lake is beautiful. It's a wonderful resource … and we want people to come in and enjoy it," Seyferth said. "But we want people to stay safe."
So if you see big waves, he said, sit on the beach.
National beach safety expert visits Michigan: Your beach flags are not acceptable
Brewster, a former lifeguard chief in San Diego who oversaw 6,000 rescues a year in California, now travels the country on behalf of the USLA helping cities deal with drowning issues, including towns in Florida, California, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica.
In April, he came to Michigan. It was at the request of the city of South Haven, which hired the USLA for $10,000 to draft a lifeguard proposal. The association came back with a 37-page report that included a curious finding: When the city implemented beach parking in 1991, it said it did so primarily to pay for lifeguards and police. And when it increased parking fees in 1999, it said it was to help offset lifeguard costs. Yet, two years later, when it gutted the lifeguard program, it still kept the parking revenue.
"We went back and looked ... they cut the lifeguards but have kept the parking fees ever since," said Brewster, who introduced the report to the South Haven City Council.
The report also delivered a poignant message to South Haven, reminding the city of its 12 fatal drownings since getting rid of lifeguards in 2001.
"(T)he chance of drowning in an area under the protection of lifeguards affiliated with USLA is 1 in 18 million beach visits. To place this in context of South Haven ... were lifeguards to be provided ... South Haven could reasonably expect to have an average of one drowning death in a lifeguard-protected area every 50 or more years."
The report also recommended South Haven hire at least a dozen lifeguards and equip its two beaches with a lifeguard tower, two-way radios and an ATV. It also said warning flags should be attached to the lifeguard towers so that lifeguards can change them when swimming conditions change.
The report also took issue with South Haven's approach to beach safety.
"When South Haven elected to terminate lifeguard services in 2001, it left a gap not only in the drowning prevention and medical aid lifeguards provide, but also the time it takes to respond to people in distress," the USLA report states, stressing: " … in the absence of lifeguards, a number of people have died or nearly died attempting to rescue family members or others."
The report also stresses: "Flags alone are of limited value. … Flags are not an acceptable substitute for properly trained and equipped rescuers, but rather a tool for their use.'
For Benjamin, the USLA report provided a much-needed boost.
"We've been telling the city of South Haven this for 12 years — that the beach flag is a tool, not a replacement for lifeguards," said Benjamin, of the surf rescue project, who believes the USLA's recommendation to South Haven will have far-reaching impact.
"This has a statewide implication," Benjamin said. "They're not just telling South Haven, 'You're doing this wrong.' This applies to all Michigan beaches: You should not be having a beach system without lifeguards."
The city council meeting ended that April night with the council rejecting the USLA's recommended lifeguard plan in a 3-3 tie vote.
South Haven official: 'TV shows like "Baywatch" have given us inaccurate impressions of the role lifeguards play.'
South Haven City Manager Kate Hosier says a lifeguard plan is in the works in her city, stressing the city council "has made beach safety a top priority this year."
"The City Council has indicated its desire to move forward with the development of a lifeguard program, and staff is following their direction to develop an effective program," Hosier wrote in an email to the Free Press. "South Haven has invested significant time and resources in this matter, perhaps more than any other Lake Michigan community in recent years — even though all our beaches face similar safety issues."
The Free Press reached out to Hosier for an interview. She opted to respond by email.
"Television shows like 'Baywatch' have given us inaccurate impressions of the role lifeguards play," Hosier wrote in a June email, adding lifeguards are on duty "primarily to prevent dangerous behaviors."
For example, Hosier says, lifeguards might move people who are swimming too close to the pier away from that location, or intervene when children are playing too roughly. Rescue operations, she says, are a secondary function.
"Some community advocates seem to think that lifeguards are a silver bullet," Hosier states, "but they are only one among many options for improving beach safety."
'We regularly see risky behavior' from out-of-town visitors
In addressing swimmer safety, Hosier says beachgoers need to do their part, too, including: Follow the local beach rules, be aware of lake conditions and the flag system, and listen to and follow the instructions of code enforcement officers.
"We recognize people may travel from Detroit or other parts of Michigan, specifically to enjoy a beach weekend in South Haven," Hosier states, noting the weather and lake may not always cooperate. Still, the out-of-towners are tempted.
"We regularly see risky behavior where out-of-town visitors decide to ignore flags, code enforcement officers and common sense — and go into the water in unsafe conditions because they've 'driven all this way for the beach and are going to enjoy their time,' " Hosier says.
Lifeguard programs involve a lot more than 'sunblock and a whistle'
According to Hosier, South Haven eliminated its lifeguard program more than two decades ago due to "rising expenses, liability concerns, and the difficulty of staffing." She said "it was becoming impossible for the city of South Haven to find anyone willing to be a lifeguard for our Lake Michigan beaches."
And while the city is committed to restarting the program, she says, doing so isn't as simple as people may think.
"It's been suggested that the process is simple to restart the program: Buy some sunblock and a whistle, and you've got your lifeguard program," Hosier says. "However, it is far from simple. We can't simply restart a program that hasn't existed for 20 years — particularly at a time (when) it's so difficult to find qualified employees for any position, much less one with the many risks that would be inherent in this role."
As Hosier notes, lifeguarding a massive lake is much different than watching over a community pool.
"The Big Lake, as it is known, provides an entirely different set of challenges — weather, high waves, strong currents, and crowds of people — than placid indoor or outdoor pools," said Hosier, adding the city also has liability concerns with restarting the lifeguard program.
"Our Council is aware of the liability issue, which is one factor it will weigh in its decision-making moving forward," she said, noting there's another issue: "Further complicating the matter is the current litigation the city is facing."
She declined to comment on the two pending lawsuits, but stressed that South Haven has taken numerous measures to improve beach safety over the last decade, including:
In 2022, the city passed an ordinance that allows officials to close beaches and piers when conditions are unsafe, and fine violators $1,000 for ignoring those warnings.
All beaches provide loaner life jackets to young swimmers and have year-round signs warning that no lifeguards are on duty, that strong currents may exist and swimmers enter the water at their own risk. There also are signs providing detailed information about rip currents and pier safety, and warning buoys at all seven beaches to separate swimmers from boat traffic.
The city installed so-called Code Blue call boxes near the piers on both North Beach and South Beach that call 911 when activated, and equipped each pier with three, heavy-duty life rings and throw bags with 90 feet of rope.
State defends beach safety practices: 'The vast majority of state park visitors swim safely'
Like municipalities, the state of Michigan says it nixed lifeguards in the early 1990s over liability concerns, staffing challenges and financial constraints.
"Maintaining a consistent, statewide lifeguard program across dozens of remote and high-volume beaches became unsustainable," says Ed Golder, spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which oversees Michigan's state parks and its beaches, adding: "These concerns still exist today, particularly as we continue to navigate seasonal staffing shortages and the need for consistent training and oversight."
According to Golder, the state's approach to beach safety now focuses on education, signs, real-time water-conditions monitoring, and the flag warning system — including a double-red flag designation that means the beach is shut down for swimming. Violators can be fined $500.
New rescue technology also has been adopted, such as using remote-controlled robotic lifeguards, known as EMILY (Emergency Integrated Lifesaving Lanyard), which are being used at the beaches in New Buffalo and St. Joseph, in addition to lifeguards. Ludington State Park also has used them. Operated by remote control, the torpedo-shaped EMILY robot is sent into the water by a lifeguard when a swimmer is in distress, buying both parties more time for a safer water rescue.
Electronic notification towers also were installed at Grand Haven State Park in 2023. The tower's LED lights replicate the traditional flag system for water conditions, and the tower contacts a 911 dispatch center in the event of an emergency.
Golder also emphasized the importance of swimmer responsibility, noting that many drownings at state park beaches do not occur within designated swim areas, but in no-swimming zones.
As for the Recreation Passport fees that visitors pay to enter state parks, which generated more than $40 million in revenue in 2023, Golder said that money is already dedicated to "core park operations," including staffing, maintenance, infrastructure repairs and accessibility upgrades.
"Shifting that funding to a lifeguard program would require an additional dedicated revenue stream," said Golder, stressing most people who swim at our beaches are safe.
"Given that 36 million visitors annually recreate at parks across our system, the vast majority of state park visitors swim safely," Golder said. "Our layered safety measures — signs, flag systems, and staff response — are having an impact."
Contact Tresa Baldas: [e-mail]
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lake Michigan has high drownings, yet most beaches lack lifeguards
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