Not enough parking on New Smyrna Beach; 300 treated for jelly fish stings
DAYTONA BREACH -- The final day of the Labor Day weekend turned tragic on the beach when a 40-year-old St. Petersburg trying to teach his kids how to swim drowned when they ventured out to far and he tried to swim to them, the Volusia County Beach Patrol reported.
Richard Kerr got caught in a rip current south orf Ormond Beach at the Boylston Avenue approach where there were no lifeguards posted and was swept under just after 4 p.m. Monday, Beach Patrol spokeswoman Capt. Tammy Morris said, adding he was apparently teaching his children how to swim when they drifted from him and when he went after them got caught up in the rip current. The children were able to get back to shore safely. The father was pulled from the water a quarter mile away by a lifeguard in the 2400 block of North Atlantic Avenue, but was pronounced dead at the hospital.
In all, lifeguards made 20 rescues throughout the day and treated 300 swimmers with vinegar for jelly fish stings.
The 15 miles of beach in Volusia County where motor vehicles are allowed were so jammed with cars Monday that by mid-afternoon, vehicles trying to access a stretch of the beach in New Smyrna Beach were turned away because there was no parking left.