SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. — At South Beach, there’s flags in red and green. There’s yellow ones too. Depending on the weather, beachgoers will only see one color flying high. And if they can’t see them, then they’ll be able to read them.
“They have the colors spelled on them,” said South Have Fire Chief Ron Wise about the new safety swimming flags. “So green has green spelled out, yellow has yellow and red has the no swimmer symbol.”
Wise said the city added words to the flags for people who are colorblind. When people read the word green it means they’re good to go in Lake Michigan. When it says yellow it means to take precaution and red means stay out.
“Then with the rectangle, [was] to give it more surface area,” said Wise. “We made the letters bigger, [used] larger font so that’s easier to read from a distance.”
There are seven beaches in South Haven and each has at least one flag. Wise acknowledged that all the beaches are “beautiful” but he wants people to heed the warnings.
“When we have water conditions like today, obviously our south side, you can see the waves are up considerably,” he said just before it began to rain. “We posted red flag with the no swimming. That means there’s a very high chance for dangerous currents.”
Wise said the flags posted are to keep people safe. He recommends wearing life vests and other safety gear when in the water, especially if children decide to jump in.
“We ask them to heed our advice that we’re putting out there,” said Wise. “Some of the main things is young children. Even an inch of water can be enough to drown them.”
Mary Albrecht, of Indianapolis, knows this all to well. She’s said the signs are "great" and hopes people will pay attention to them, especially parents of small kids.
“It should keep them out of the water, I think,” said Albrecht who was vacationing with family. “If they’re just sitting there at the Edge it’s fine. But I don’t think they should go out because I’m assuming that means there’s an undertow and I actually had a brother that passed away from an undertow.”
Monday marks the fifth time the red flags were used since they were first put up in mid-May, Wise said. They’re up everyday at 9am and the staff checks the National Weather Service's Beach Hazard Statement three times a day and changes the flags accordingly.
“When we look at drownings everyone always assumes that it’s the mean Lake Michigan that did it,” said Wise. “But we always want to make sure that people take responsibility.”
