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Experts Warn of Rip Currents as 14 Recently Drown in Jersey Shore Waters

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Experts Warn of Rip Currents as 14 Recently Drown in Jersey Shore Waters

By: Hellen Zaboulani 

New Jersey’s beaches, rivers and lakes have had a rocky start to the season, with over a dozen people who fell victim to drownings reported since late April.

As reported by NewJersey.com, including two pool deaths, the Garden State has already suffered 14 drownings in all, before summer has even begun. The state of New Jersey generally does not have a high number of water-related deaths, in fact it’s usually well below the nationwide average.

Experts are warning people of the risk presented by rip currents and of swimming without a lifeguard.  Experts also agree that this is probably the most dangerous season for swimming.  Rip currents are more frequent early in the season, and the water is colder, both making drowning more likely, noted Long Beach Township lifeguard coordinator Josh Bligh.  Rip currents can occur directly by the beach shore, particularly as the waves and wind get rougher, Bligh said.  Persons may go out to a sandbar while its low tides without realizing the perils of being quickly caught in a rip current.  He explained that when the water is more frigid, people can experience hypothermia or get exhausted quicker.

Also, before the start of the summer– which is officially June 21st but varies at different beaches– there are no lifeguards on many beaches, lakes and pools.  This makes things more dangerous right off the bat.  “Honestly it hasn’t changed,” said Bligh, who has over 20 years of experience as a lifeguard. “As long as people continue to go into the water when a lifeguard isn’t present, they more or less have to take on that responsibility.”  Of course, there are rip currents when there are lifeguards too sometimes, but the guards can usually get out there fast enough to avoid a tragedy.  “I don’t think people really realize the danger of water,” Bligh added.

New Jersey’s drowning trouble began on April 23rd, when a high school senior drowned in a pond in New Milford.  The victim was trying to retrieve a soccer ball. Next, in May, a body was recovered in Newark from the Passaic River.  Another 55-year-old man perished that month in Carneys Point Township, after being pulled out of the Delaware River.

In early June, two brothers passed away in an indoor pool at a Bayonne school. Lifeguards pulled them from the deep end, but it was too late.  As per NJ.com, also, a man drowned trying to swim across a Manchester Township, and a 22-year-old and teenager and both drowned in a Morris County lake.  A 19-year-old man from Pennsylvania drowned in a beach near Wildwood.  A 24-year-old swimmer drowned in Belmar in the ocean off the Jersey Shore.  A 59-year-old woman perished at Island Beach State Park.  Another 53-year-old man from Pennsylvania, drowned swimming in Wildwood Crest.  A 45-year-old man from Hillsdale also drowned in Wildwood.

One thing many of these tragic occurrences shared in common was that there were no lifeguard present or they were swimming where they shouldn’t have been.  Rip currents remain a danger, said Stockton University Coastal Research Center director and founder Stewart Farrell.  Dangerous currents and rough waves can continue for at least five or six hours after a storm, he said. “(Waves) can keep generating riptides, but it depends on the beach,” Farrel said.

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