Rip current warnings continue up and down the Jersey Shore
ASBURY PARK, N.J. -- The hot weather made some people head for the beach at Asbury Park on Tuesday, only to learn they could wade but not swim due to dangerous rip currents.
Hitting the beach might look enticing, especially considering the temperatures, but it comes with a high-risk warning about dangerous riptides up and down the Jersey Shore.
Earlier in the day, Chopper 2 showed beachgoers getting wading in to the ocean, but no more than knee deep.
Anyone who tried to swim at Asbury Park got an earful from lifeguards.
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Only eight of them made up rapid response teams and they went from spot to spot, instead of staying perched atop chairs.
"There were four tragedies between Monmouth and Ocean County this past weekend. It's the last weekend. You just don't want anything like that happening on the last weekend of the summer," said Joe Bongiovanni, Asbury Park's beach safety supervisor. "Sunday, we had probably 25 or 30 rescues."
"Most of the people on our beach today probably are locals, so they understand what the red flag means and they know better than to go in the water when the red flag is up," he added.
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Lifeguards say to survive a rip current do not swim directly toward shore. Instead, swim parallel to shore or tread water until you find yourself released from the rip current.
If there is no lifeguard on duty, which is becoming the norm after Labor Day, do not go in.
"It's just the two of us. We are heading back to school in a couple of days so we're having one last beach day before she goes back," said Phil McGinty of Maplewood.
McGinty and his daughter, Clara, were sticking to the sand.
"I was expecting it so I explained before I came that we probably wouldn't be able to go in," McGinty said. "The riptide is so strong. It's too dangerous to go out any further than that because you never know when a rogue wave and riptide he's gonna come."
"The one guy came and blow whistle, but he said don't swim. Don't try to go down and swim. I mean, be cautious," added Naomi Lovelace of Haledon.
"The water has been terrible all summer long," Bongiovanni said. "Now, we've got the big surf from these tropical storm and hurricane that are sitting off our coasts. So, like I said, it has been a perfect storm for having rough surf all summer long."
