10 times rip currents took a life in NJ, and how to spot them
A teenage girl out with her dad Friday morning to have a nice time at Avon-by-the-Sea. There was a rip current the pair didn't see. She got caught in it. They say a rip current can easily pull you at least a meter per second straight out to the sea. Some can take you as fast as 3 meters per second. You often won't notice it happening. In just 30 seconds you could be hundreds of feet out.
The girl was in trouble and her 39-year-old dad jumped in to rescue her. But couldn't. They struggled. Someone from the shore made a call to police and rescue swimmers were soon there trying desperately to reach them. In 10 minutes they found the girl and got her back to shore. She would be OK.
Then they found her father, submerged.
They pulled him from the water and began an all-out life-saving attempt on the sand. He was brought to Jersey Shore University Medical Center and was pronounced dead.
The shock, grief and misplaced guilt this poor girl may be feeling is just heartbreaking. My heart goes out to everyone involved.
While there are ways to spot a rip current, which we'll tell you in a moment, you have to first respect how serious they are. Swimming when there's no lifeguard on duty is foolish. People die every year in New Jersey waters from rip currents.
The following is only a random sampling. There were many more rip current drowning deaths in New Jersey in the last few years than these 10.
June 13, 2022 — Island Beach State Park
A 59-year-old woman enjoying the ocean with her husband on the beach that evening was swept out to sea by a powerful rip current. The search lasted until midnight and resumed the next day when her body was recovered.
September 8, 2022 — Ocean City
At half past noon a 56-year-old father got caught in a rip current and his 21-year-old son tried in vain to rescue him. Neither could get back to shore. Lifeguards rescued both men. The father was unresponsive and was pronounced dead at a hospital.
September 18, 2021 — Brick Township
Tropical Storm Odette set the stage for rip currents on this day that pulled a 54-year-old man to a watery death. No lifeguards were on duty since it was well past Labor Day. Despite the efforts of 2 surfers who tried to rescue him the man passed away at Hackensack Meridian Ocean Medical Center in Brick Township two hours later.
September 1, 2019 — Spring Lake
Lifeguards along with local police responded to a report of two juveniles in distress, pulled by a rip current. A girl was rescued. A 15-year-old boy from Ewing could not be found. His body was recovered on a Spring Lake beach days later and blocks away from where he got in trouble.
June 16, 2017 — Belmar
Two Belmar girls, 13 and 12-year-old cousins, went into the ocean at a time of day no lifeguards were present. They were caught in a rip current and their young lives were ended.
July 16, 2017 — Atlantic City
As the beach was just closing down for the day lifeguards pulled a 12-year-old Elizabeth girl from the water. She held on overnight before dying the next day. National Weather Service blamed her drowning on rip currents.
September 20, 2017 — Asbury Park
A 42-year-old woman from Harriman, New York. was pulled out to sea. Rip current warnings were up due to the effects of Tropical Storm Jose. She died the following day at a hospital.
September 23, 2017 — Long Branch
There to enjoy a Saturday at the beach with his family a 34-year-old Piscataway man was forever taken from them. He was caught in deadly rip currents and at first rescued by a surfer who had him up on his board but possibly too late. First responders took over and got him to Monmouth Medical Center but didn't make it.
September 24, 2017 — Point Pleasant Beach
A 60-year-old man perished on that Sunday in the waters off Jenkinson's Beach. He was caught up in a rip current and then lost consciousness. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
September 24, 2017 — Seaside Park
A 44-year-old woman last her life on a trip to the beach, taken by a rip current. When she was pulled from the Atlantic two off-duty nurses desperately tried giving her CPR but to no avail.
So yes, they’re that dangerous. We’ve all heard the advice about not swimming against it in a straight line back to the beach because it will only wear you out and you’ll never overcome the power of that rushing channel of water. We know they say to let it take you while trying to swim out of it by swimming parallel to the shore and then at a diagonal.
But how can you prevent having to do all this in the first place? Look. Study the water. Watch the surface.
They can be difficult to spot but a higher vantage point helps like from atop sand dunes. If you’re seeing waves coming in and breaking at the shore in some spots but not in others, it’s in between those breaking waves scanning side to side where the water appears calmer that you have to pay attention to. That’s where you’ll find rip currents. Look for a slightly darker hue in a line heading back out to the ocean. If to your left and to your right there are waves breaking on the beach but right before you the water is flatter, and in that flatness you see that somewhat darker line, that could be a rip current channeling the water back out to sea.
Finally, to state the obvious, do not go swimming when there’s no lifeguard on duty. Also, don’t go swimming alone. Ever.
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Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.
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