A new Web site promoting ocean safety launched yesterday in conjunction with the start of Hawai'i Beach Safety Week.

The Beach Hazard Web site — www.hawaiibeachsafety.org — features comprehensive beach and weather information, including ocean hazards, advisories, warnings and beach amenities to help people make educated decisions about which beach to visit.

The site was created in collaboration with the city's Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services Division, the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa and the Hawaiian Lifeguard Association.

Hawai'i has the second-highest resident drowning rate in the nation — a rate that is twice the average for the rest of the country. Each year an average of 64 people drown in Hawai'i, and nearly half are residents.

"This is an extremely exciting and important tool," said Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the state Department of Health, which helped fund the site and organize Hawai'i Beach Safety Week, through May 28. "The water around us, in which we play, should be a safe place. We feel this will help us."

The site is automatically updated every 10 minutes with wave and wind data primarily from the National Weather Service.

For example, if wind speeds exceed 25 mph — the threshold for a small-craft warning — the map on the site is automatically updated to feature a sign with a black diamond denoting extremely hazardous offshore conditions.

Ocean safety officers can also access the site, posting advisories and warnings when needed.

"When beachgoers arrive at a beach, they're committed to using that location. It's difficult to relocate them to a beach more suitable for their skills," said Chip Fletcher, chairman of the Department of Geology & Geophysics at UH, who helped create the site. "We hope this (site) fills that informational void that has existed."

The maps on the site are printable, and Fletcher would like to see hotels post or hand out this beach information to their guests. About 51 percent of drowning victims in Hawai'i are nonresidents.

"If we can get this information to visitors and residents before they make decisions, I think it'll have its greatest effect," Fletcher said.

It cost about $55,000 to build and launch the site, with the bulk of the money coming from federal grants, said Fletcher.

The city hopes to get additional funding from the Hawai'i Tourism Authority and other sources to maintain it, said Ralph Goto, administrator of the city's Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services.

O'ahu lifeguards watched over more than 13 million swimmers at beaches in 2006, making about 1,300 rescues and responding to 1,229 major medical incidents.

Statewide, the number of drownings decreased to 59 in 2006, compared with 68 the year before.

Overall, 85 percent of the victims drowned in the ocean, making the dissemination of beach information critical to preventing injuries and possibly death.

"We have to give as much information as we can to our visitors as we do our residents," said Gov. Linda Lingle at a news conference yesterday to launch the site. "Because, as everyone in this room knows ... death is inevitable, it will occur. But it's so preventable in many cases."

Reach Catherine E. Toth at ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.