COASTAL OBSERVER

A video that will help educate visitors about the danger of rip currents along Pawleys Island will be funded with money allocated to promote tourism. It is the latest initiative by the town following two drownings this summer.

“This has certainly been a high priority for our town,” Administrator Dan Newquist said.

Mayor Brian Henry first proposed the video in May. Two swimmers drowned on the north end of the island within two weeks last fall, and he wanted the town to provide safety tips for swimmers while also promoting the island.

The Town Council wanted to get more information about the $5,000 proposal.

An Atlanta man, 20, drowned in the same area in June and another man, 38, drowned trying to help a group of people caught in a rip current there less than three weeks later. That brought the total drownings on the section of beach near Midway Inlet to five in two years.

Since the last drowning, the town has added signs and rescue buoys at the north end and elsewhere on the beach.

Newquist asked the town Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee this week to fund the video. The committee also handles tourism promotion with help from the Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce.

While there are generic videos about rip currents available, the town wants something with local flavor. 

“Not to say this is an unsafe beach or anything,” Newquist said.

The town can’t use the accommodations tax for the project, said Mark Stevens, the chamber’s tourism development director. But it can use funds from a state Tourism Advertising Grant program.

“It is not necessarily a marketing video,” Stevens said. The message is more “Mother Nature: Respect it.”

The committee agreed to fund the project without comment. Newquist said the town hopes to get the video shot soon.