SouthCoast Families Need to Know About Electric Shock Drowning

Electrocution is a very real danger that people don't take seriously enough. Earlier this month, a North Easton man was killed when he was electrocuted while trying to remove an antenna from a Taunton home.

But it isn't just on land where you need to be concerned.

Would you consider stepping into a bathtub with a live hair dryer? Think of a boat, docked at the marina, as that hair dryer. People I spoke with on the SouthCoast knew little about the silent killer, but the Electric Shock Drowning Prevention Association was established to save lives from electrocution.

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Electric shock drowning happens in fresh water ponds and lakes, when low-level AC current paralyses the body, rendering the victim unable to swim, eventually resulting in drowning.

People have been swimming around marinas for decades, but what has changed is the addition of electricity from boat lifts and dockside accessories that allow boats to be plugged into shore power while docked. Often, the source of electrocution is frayed, faulty wires that get chaffed, leaking electricity into the water.

On the Electric Shock Drowning Prevention Association website, founder Kevin Ritz shared the tragic day, 14 years ago, when the family lost their son Lucas.

"We knew something was wrong when everyone started running down the dock. Lucas was motionless in the water," he wrote. "My wife jumped into the water, near his side so she could grab ahold of his life jacket, and thank God she did, or we would have lost her, too, because when she hit the water she was being paralyzed by the electricity. She couldn't let go of the life jacket."

Through their loss, the family researched and found many "drowning victims" were actually electrocuted instead, because there was no water in their lungs.

Since then the Ritz family, along with others, formed a non-profit to raise awareness of this silent killer. The first step is being educated; knowing what the right steps are that can keep your family safe around the water this summer.

Read the association's list of ways to prevent electric shock drowning and be safe out there.

LOOK: Here are the best lake towns to live in

Many of the included towns jump out at the casual observer as popular summer-rental spots--the Ozarks' Branson, Missouri, or Arizona's Lake Havasu--it might surprise you to dive deeper into some quality-of-life offerings beyond the beach and vacation homes. You'll likely pick up some knowledge from a wide range of Americana: one of the last remaining 1950s-style drive-ins in the Midwest; a Florida town that started as a Civil War veteran retirement area; an island boasting some of the country's top public schools and wealth-earners right in the middle of a lake between Seattle and Bellevue; and even a California town containing much more than Johnny Cash's prison blues.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.