Late in the afternoon of July 4, a man and a woman’s pontoon boat collided with and fell under a dock on the Intracoastal Waterway near Beverly Beach, injuring both of them, one of them seriously.
At 5:18 p.m., the collision was reported to the authorities. The incident was attended by emergency personnel from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Flagler Beach Fire Department, Palm Coast Fire Department, Flagler County Fire Rescue, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, and Flagler Beach Ocean Rescue.
A Flagler Beach Fire Department statement stated that when first responders arrived, they discovered a single pontoon boat that had struck a dock. There were several reported injuries. Both individuals were successfully rescued from the sea as a consequence of a prompt and well-coordinated reaction by all participating organizations.
According to the fire department, a trauma alert was issued after one person suffered potentially fatal injuries. Halifax Hospital in Daytona Beach received the patient. After being taken to AdventHealth Palm Coast for additional assessment, the second person’s status was said to be stable. FWC is still investigating the event.
Flagler Beach Fire Chief Stephen Cox stated that in emergency situations such as this, the mission is more important than the patch worn on the shoulder. The teamwork demonstrated yesterday only serves to demonstrate that we bring all available resources, expertise, and experience to the table in order to provide the best possible service to the community.
Both the boat and portions of the wooden dock sustained significant damage in the collision.
In 2024, there were 685 reportable boating accidents in a state with slightly more than 1 million registered vessels (the highest number in the country), according to FWC, a police department that, among other duties, patrols the state’s waterways. Only two of the crashes—both of which were fatal—occurred in Flagler County. Pontoon boats were involved in 53 of the 685 crashes. The most common crash type (31 percent) involved collisions with a fixed object, such as the dock collision on Friday. 81 persons lost their lives in watercraft accidents throughout the state in 2024. Inexperience and inattention were at blame for half of the collisions.
