OCEAN CITY, Md. - With a tropical storm looming East Coast, torrential weather conditions are prompting lifeguards around the region to warn beachgoers about powerful and potentially deadly rip currents.
With increased winds Monday, two teenage girls were nearly swept away, but due to the fast response of the Ocean City Beach Patrol, the girls were brought back to the shore safely.
"We were just standing there just going over the waves, and then a rip current came and we just got pushed out," Katelyn Horne said.
Alyssa Beck, who was also rescued, said she's thankful for the quick response of the beach patrol, as she said at one point, she couldn't feel the bottom of the ocean anymore.
"It was definitely really scary because you could touch one minute, and then you couldn't the next," Beck said. "I felt really safe when she started coming out."
Though rip currents can happen throughout the year, increased winds from tropical storms make rip currents even more dangerous, beach officials say. In order to avoid adverse situations, educating yourself before entering the water is key.
"On the back of every lifeguard stand is a sign, and there's actually a description of rip currents," said Capt. Butch Arbin of the OCBP. "It tells you what to do if you're caught in a rip current, how to get out. There's a diagram."
Additionally, the best thing to do in these situations, he said, is to never panic. Instead, remain calm, indicate you're in distress, or swim parallel to the rip current to safety.
"If the reaction time was slow, in another couple of seconds, they would've been pulled out probably past the pier," Surf Rescue Technician Amanda Shoemaker said. "At that point, I'm guessing they would've started to panic, and they would've gone under."
On Monday, however, Mother Nature didn't prevail due to the quick response of the Ocean City Beach Patrol, and the proper protocols they had in place.
As it stands, the OCBP had 141 rescues from the water on Monday.
