(WWJ) -- There have already been more drownings on the Great Lakes so far in 2021, compared to this time last year, according to the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project.
The nonprofit says there have been 32 drownings on the five lakes, as of July 2, slightly up compared to 25 deaths through early July 2020.
Lake Michigan has seen 15 drownings this year, the most of any Great Lake, with six reported in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and five in Lake Huron.
The uptick in drownings has the nonprofit and other officials urging swimmers to take extra caution when heading to the lakes, especially Lake Michigan.
Lake Michigan is commonly known as the deadliest of the Great Lakes, with the GLSRP releasing a video earlier this year explaining how dangerous currents and undertows can make swimming difficult, even for experienced swimmers.
The GLSRP has been tracking data since 2010, showing a total of 978 drownings in that span. Lake Michigan alone saw 58 drownings in 2020, more than half of the 108 total drownings on the Great Lakes.
The nonprofit says there were 117 drownings in the Great Lakes in 2018, the most since 2010.
THE GLSRP emphasizes the “flip, float and follow” drowning survival technique, instructing swimmers to focus on floating and breathing before trying to find an exit from the water.
Dave Benjamin, executive director of the GLSRP, told MLive.com that many not be the first thing on many swimmers’ minds.
“It is not common sense to know and understand that panic is the first stage of drowning and how to overcome that panic,” Benjamin said, per MLive. “It’s a drowning victim’s instinct to fight to survive, which only exhausts them into the vertical drowning posture. Once exhausted and in that drowning posture, the victim will submerge in less than 60 seconds.”