Rip currents kill 3, and Shore braces for more

ATLANTIC CITY - From his oceanfront perch, Beach Patrol Captain Rod Aluise looked at the roiling sea earlier today and grimaced.

Treacherous rip currents killed at least three swimmers at the Jersey Shore over the weekend, one in Atlantic City and two others in Wildwood.

Today, Aluise and others braced for more stormy weather and rip currents that could lie ahead.

As Hurricane Bertha weakened to a tropical storm, so did the effect she is having on the shore, where waves and swells looked calmer than they had in days. A mostly cloudy sky today might have kept many away from the beaches, where the surf still kicked up. But moderate to high waves are expected over the next few days, according to the National Weather Service.

If the Atlantic City beach patrol used the flag system that is common along the shore - green for good conditions, yellow for caution and red for no swimming - today would have been a yellow flag day, Aluise said.

"We don't use the flag system like some other places do, but we remain vigilant, cautious today and every day," Aluise said. "It was a busy weekend, a very busy weekend. But for now, we think most of the trouble is over. Until the next round."

Rip currents are strong, rushing channels of water that flow along the shoreline and pull seaward, taking swimmers with them.

They are stronger when the tide is low and the surf is rough, as when a hurricane is brewing off shore, or when strong onshore winds blow.

Rip currents sometimes prove deadly when inexperienced or weak swimmers get caught in them and panic as they are being pulled away from the shoreline.

Beach patrol members are trained to understand the swiftness of the rips, which can move an object or a person as much as eight feet a second.

"That strength and velocity is faster than what an Olympic swimmer can do," Aluise said.

Experts recommend that if swimmers get caught in such a situation, they shouldn't panic and allow the current to pull them out to calmer waters. There, they can await rescue or swim parallel to the shoreline to eventually reach calmer waters, then return to the beach.

Saturday afternoon, a 51-year-old swimmer off Atlantic City died of natural causes - not drowning - while being rescued by lifeguards after he was caught in a heavy rip current.

Thirty-five miles to the south in Wildwood, three men went swimming around 7 p.m. Saturday, after lifeguards were off duty for the day. The swimmers were caught in a rip current that claimed the life of one of them. A second swimmer is still missing and presumed drowned, while a third was hospitalized.

Strong currents, driven by Bertha, threatened the safety of swimmers along the Jersey Shore all weekend, forcing beach patrols to make hundreds of rescues.

In Atlantic City alone, 57 rescues were conducted between Saturday and Sunday because of rips, Aluise said.

Mostly because of rip currents, some 230 people have been rescued by lifeguards here since Memorial Day weekend. Nearly 1,000 more rescues probably will take place in Atlantic City before the beach season ends, Aluise said.

"Unfortunatly, rip currents are not an unusual situation along the Jersey Shore," Aluise said. "They happen a lot and I would say 90 percent of the rescues we have are people who get caught in them."

Tony Cavalier, chief of the North Wildwood Beach Patrol, agrees.

"Because of our location near the (Hereford) inlet, our water seems to have a lot of rip currents, even when there isn't a storm or a hurricane out there," Cavalier said. "Which means our lifeguards have to stay especially tuned in to what is going on when we have a situation like we had over the weekend."

Cavalier closed North Wildwood's 25 beaches to swimming for more than a hour on Saturday after six people were caught in one rip, he said.

"Our guards were right on top of it and got everyone out of the surf safely," Cavalier said. "After we re-opened the water, swimmers could go in only knee deep. On Sunday, we only allowed waist deep and no boogie boards or flotation devices and we had no incidents."

Rip currents create the need for more than 18,000 lifeguard rescues a year in the U.S. and cause about 100 deaths - more than all other natural hazards except heat and floods - according to the National Weather Service.