Global Courant
Strong rip currents prompted lifeguards to pull about 200 swimmers from the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia and North Carolina over the holiday weekend.
Tom Gill, chief of the Virginia Beach Lifesaving Service, told The Virginian-Pilot that the city’s more than 180 rescues were high, even for a holiday weekend.
Gill said three of the rescued swimmers were taken to hospitals for treatment after appearing to have inhaled water.
Virginia Beach lifeguards waved red flags to warn of dangerous gulf currents. But given the warm weather, it was hard to keep people out of the water, Gill said.
“It’s hot and people want to get in the water and need to get in the water,” he said. “And we understand that.”
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On North Carolina’s Hatteras Island, authorities reported 21 rescues over the weekend, the pilot reported.
The rescues in Virginia and North Carolina follow at least 10 deaths last month that authorities attributed to rip currents along the Gulf of Mexico in Alabama and Florida.
Rip currents typically cause more than 100 deaths a year, according to the United States Lifesaving Association. So far this year, the National Weather Service reports on its website that as of July 1, 57 people have been killed by rip currents in the US.
Strong rip currents prompted nearly 200 rescues in Virginia and North Carolina over the July 4 weekend.
A rip current is a powerful, narrow channel of water that flows away from the beach and often extends through the breaker zone where waves form. They can emerge regardless of surface weather and can quickly propel even the strongest swimmer out to sea.
“A rip current is basically water that likes to go downhill. When breaking waves hit the shore, they’re pushed up onto the beach,” said Daniel Noah, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Ruskin, Florida. “It’s trying to figure out the easiest way to get back in the water. And it finds these rip current channels and it can quickly go back to the Gulf or the ocean.”
Global Courant
“The movement of water has a lot of power,” he added. “It’s dangerous for children, it’s dangerous for adults, it’s dangerous for vehicles.”
The Virginian-Pilot previously reported that the chances of drowning are much lower when someone swims near a lifeguard.
“Swim near a stall, wear a life jacket if you’re not a good swimmer, learn how to spot a rip,” Gill told the paper in 2019.
Rip currents lead to rescues of 200 swimmers in Virginia and North Carolina
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