SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. — As soon as Nicole Navarro arrived to North Beach, she made sure to grab a life jacket for her 6-year-old daughter Serenity.
“My mom wants to keep me safe,” Serenity said while holding it in her hands.
It’s true. Navarro had been hearing about all the drownings that’s happened this summer, including the two people who died on Monday afternoon. So, she took the news as warnings and made sure her daughter had a life jacket.
“I just feel safer with it, definitely,” Navarro said during an interview with FOX 17 on Wednesday. “I know it’s the end of summer. She out grew her one for this year and it’s just good to have that there.”
So far there’s been four drownings this summer in South Haven, said City Manager Kate Hosier. At beaches along the lake shore, there’s been even more, including one at Grand Haven State Park last weekend.
So, last week the city put up life jacket loaner stations on North Beach and South Beach for people to use whenever they need it.
“What this is is when people come to the beach and they decide that maybe ‘I’m not as comfortable in the water,’ they can come up here, take a jacket, use it for the day, and then return it,” Hosier said. “There’s multiple jackets in each size ranging for infants to adults.”
She said each station has 20-25 life jackets, and it’s free. They were donated by the Safe Kids Greater South Havenorganization, sponsored by Bronson South Haven.
“It feels very good to know that these are out here for people to use if they need one,” Hosier said. “It’s good for people, you know, who never maybe been to Lake Michigan and don’t know the power of the water here.”
Hosier also emphasized paying attention to the flags to keep safe. City officials check the weather and water conditions with the National Weather Service every day and update the flags accordingly: Red means stay away, yellow means use caution, and green means the water is safe.
She said the flags, and life jackets, are good ways to stay safe at the beach.
Navarro agreed.
“This is my first time coming up here this summer. I was scared too a lot this summer because of seeing everything,” Navarro said. “We checked and we seen there’s green flags today. So, hey even though there’s green flags it’s still good to have that there.”
