Event narrative (NOAA)
Cameron County Beach Patrol responded to a call regarding two possible drowning victims, which came in around 7:10PM CDT on July 2nd. Witnesses suggested the fatality was rip/longshore current related, and an off-duty NWS employee vouched for the dangerous rip current/longshore current potential during the entire weekend (July 2-4). ||A 37-year old tourist swimming in the Gulf of Mexico off South Padre Island, about 2.5 miles north of Cameron County Beach Access #5, drowned in the current. A child, age unknown, was also rescued from the water by bystanders before the Beach Patrol arrived.
Other notable rip current events in Texas
Source: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database. Deaths and injuries are those NOAA classifies as direct. Damage is the reporting office's estimate at the time and is not inflation-adjusted. This is a catalogue record, not a forecast.