Results tagged “riptide”

Despite increasing warnings from Parks officials and a drowning death toll that continues to rise, swimmers are still finding their way into the Rockaways after lifeguards are off-duty, often into the night. The Times goes out to the Queens beaches to discover that "police officers patrol the area until 9 p.m. or so...but daring swimmers know to wait until the police leave to dive in, stepping past signs in English and Spanish warning against nighttime swimming." And one local resident tells the News, "Kids think it's just a big bathtub." City Councilman James Sanders held a community "brainstorming" session this week to discuss how to put an end to a deadly summer that has already claimed six victims, three times as many as all of last year. A Parks deputy described just how dangerous the waters can be by saying, "In certain weather conditions, particularly with a lot of south wind, the waves can create an opening in the bar. When that happens, it's like turning over a 5-gallon water cooler bottle and ripping the lid open - all the water comes rushing out." Here's a tutorial on what to do if you're caught in a rip current.

A 19-year-old man from The Bronx drowned in Far Rockaway yesterday where he and his girlfriend had been enjoying a day at the beach. 19-year-old Daniel O'Neil swam outside the designated area near the East Rockaway Inlet near Beach 25th Street around 3 p.m. Lifeguards eventually pulled O'Neil out and and FDNY EMTs took him to St. John's Episcopal Hospital, where he was pronounced dead an hour later. O'Neil had just graduated from Mount St. Michael High School and volunteered in the rectory of Sacred Heart Church in Mount Vernon. He was set to attend John Jay College in the fall and hoped to one day be a lawyer. His aunt told the News, "He was a young kid who wanted to prove to himself that he was a young man. He was full of life, full of youth." Lifeguards say that there has been a strong riptide over the last two weekends, forcing an unusually high number of swimmers to be pulled out of the water. The National Weather Service has tips here on what to do if you are caught in rip currents.

Yesterday morning, some friends were wading in the waters off Rockaway Peninsula at Beach 9th Street when one was swept up by a riptide. The Post reports, "A 35-year-old man was believed to have drowned yesterday after frantically trying to rescue a female companion who got pulled under." While an unconscious Daria Miranda, 24, surfaced in another area, Ramon Figera was missing and is assumed to have drowned. The Coast Guard told WCBS 2, "Whether they got into an area where they found themselves unable to touch bottom, or not able to swim, we're not certain." The pair, plus another friend, were in the water off the jetty around 8:15 a.m., nearly two hours before lifeguards report to duty; the Post noticed a sign next to the jetty that said, "Keep Off Jetty. No Diving." And a Far Rockaway resident told the Daily News, "The current on the bottom is very dangerous. All you have to do is go out 30 feet, and the current will grab you."

Yesterday, authorities, including the NYPD and Coast Guard, spent a second day searching for 16-year-old Tiara Coaxum, who went missing while swimming off Rockaway Beach on Friday. While they are resuming the search today, the rescue operation will turn into a recovery mission today. It's suspected Coaxum was caught in a riptide (the Daily News has tips on escaping a riptide), but some residents wondered to NY1 if there should be more than just two lifeguards monitoring beach activity.