The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported 30 drowning deaths in the state from Jan. 1 through July 31, a 100% increase from the same period in 2025 when 15 deaths were counted.

Three additional fatal drownings have already been reported in August.

Five people drowned in the first six months of 2026 within the central Missouri region covered by the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Troop F. Just two deaths were reported during the same period in 2025. Troop F covers Boone and 12 other surrounding counties, including those in the Lake of the Ozarks.

The numbers are the highest since 2021, when the Highway Patrol reported 47 drowning deaths during the first six months of the year. The number was the highest first-half total since the patrol began recording drownings in 2008.

The 2021 increase came when people were spending more time outdoors during the pandemic, especially in lakes, rivers and other outdoor recreation areas. Since 2008, the average number of drowning deaths in Missouri during the first six months of the year was 39, according to Highway Patrol data.

This summer, seven people drowned in June and 12 in July. Their ages ranged from 3 to 86.

On July 11, a 3-year-old girl from Kansas City, Kansas, drowned in the Elk River in McDonald County. According to the Highway Patrol, the child entered the water but couldn’t swim.

On July 18, a 36-year-old Sedalia man drowned at Shawnee Bend Swim Beach on Truman Lake. The Highway Patrol reported that he didn’t resurface after he went into the water.

Other recent deaths occurred under different circumstances.

On July 10, a 23-year-old woman from Davisville drowned when she was swept away during a torrential rain that led to flooding near Huzzah Creek in Crawford County.

On May 18, a 12-year-old boy from Latham drowned after he and a 15-year-old boy were swept from a tractor while trying to cross a low-water creek about two miles downstream from Hazel Dell Road in Moniteau County. The 15-year-old was able to rescue himself from the swift water, but the 12-year-old was carried downstream and later found deceased.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates about 4,000 people die from unintentional drowning each year in the U.S. Drowning is also one of the leading causes of death among children.

No apparent reasons have been offered for the increase in drowning deaths this year, but the Highway Patrol advises that life jackets and other flotation devices are an important aspect of drowning prevention.

“It is important for children to learn the habit of wearing a life jacket whenever they are around the water. State law requires children under seven to wear a life jacket while on a watercraft, but that is only a minimum requirement,” according to the Highway Patrol.