Extreme weather pushed this summer's drowning fatalities up by 30 per cent, with 112 people dying in the water in the nation's worst result in three years.
Royal Life Saving Society Australia says the heavy rain and flooding that marked the start and end of summer, as well as heatwaves during the Christmas period, pushed the death toll up from 86 deaths last summer.
Twenty-two of the deaths occurred in floodwaters, half of those in the last few days of February when southeast Queensland and the NSW Northern Rivers were hit with unprecedented flooding.
More than half of Queensland's summer drownings were flood-related.
The RLSSA figures covering 1 December to 28 February are based on drownings reported in the media and are considered an interim statistic.
Half the drownings this summer were in inland waterways. Last year it was 29 per cent.
Coastal locations accounted for 45 per cent of drownings.
With forecasts of even more rain over autumn, the society's chief executive
Justin Scarr urged people to avoid driving through or swimming in floodwaters.
The holidays saw the summer's two deadliest days, with six drownings on Christmas Day and seven on 2 January.
Flooding occurs in the town of Lismore, northeastern New South Wales, Monday, 28 February, 2022. Source: AAP / JASON O’BRIEN/AAPIMAGE
"It is devastating to see some of those trips end in heartbreak."
He also raised concerns about the effect COVID-19 restrictions had on children accessing swimming lessons during the pandemic, although drownings for under-17s dropped by four to 11 this summer.
"It is vital all Australians are given the opportunity to learn to swim and survive in the water," Mr Scarr said.
The number of adults 35 and older who drowned this summer increased compared to the previous summer.
Even without the deadly floods that have rocked Australia, recreational drowning deaths were up by six per cent compared with last summer.
This summer was the deadliest for drownings since 2018/19, when 116 people died.
At the time, then-record high temperatures were blamed for a 17 per cent increase in summer drownings compared with the 10-year average.
