US to experience dangerous rip currents from Hurricane Ernesto
Although Hurricane Ernesto is not expected to hit the United States, much of the nation's East Coast will experience dangerous rip currents at the beaches influenced by the storm.
Transcript
00:00Ryan Werneth to discuss the rip current safety and you're making us jealous you know with all
00:04these warm temperatures being out on the beach this morning you say it's already feeling pretty hot.
00:10Hey good morning from sunny warm Cocoa Beach thanks for having us. No problem I do want to
00:15start off quickly with of course Debbie last week I know across Myrtle Beach a lot of the coastal
00:19communities the water was so rough and the lifeguards were out and monitoring but people
00:24are still going in can you speak to that at all about you know people at the end of the day kind
00:28of just doing what they want to do and not listening? Oh that's a great point to make.
00:35The most important thing that we like to get out is always know before you go that's something
00:39people we do at home a little homework go online find out where the lifeguards are
00:43swim in front of a lifeguard because your chance of drowning for a lifeguard are 1 in 18 million
00:47but yes we do find people they'll come to the beach unprepared they didn't do any of their
00:51homework they'll they'll pop out on the beach somewhere where there aren't lifeguards which
00:55is very problematic and they go out into the water not knowing the conditions not knowing their
00:59limitations you know you need to learn to swim America and when you get caught in a rip current
01:04it can be very scary so it's very important that you do some homework and find out about the
01:07conditions of the area and check your weather and make sure that you're going to have a bright sunny
01:12day and there are no rip currents. You said that a lot better than I did without people paying
01:17attention but yeah doing your homework making sure you know what's going on not just the weather on
01:20the sand but also the conditions of the water which brings us to our next question here
01:24how can a swimmer recognize a rip current and whether or not they're caught in one?
01:32That's a fantastic question every beach is a little bit different and I like to talk about
01:36our beach everywhere there's a dip there's a rip a rip is a deep area like a ditch where the water's
01:42flowing out when you have two sandbars what happens is people are playing on that sandbar
01:46the next thing you know they step into that rip current which is the water over their head in
01:50most cases and it's pulling you away from shore not under the thing that you need to know is not
01:55to panic you need to stay calm wait for help if you're a little exhausted can't get yourself out
02:00but if you swim parallel left to right you get back to those sandbars you can make your way back
02:04in. A lot of people probably do instantly panic right because it's probably a really scary
02:09situation to be in so can you give anyone you know what you would do if you're actually caught in
02:14there and give them some some safety tips here to help if they are caught in this rip current?
02:21Sure it's very important you know panicking doing anything you just kind of lose your mind you don't
02:25know exactly what's going on so if you stay calm rip currents don't take you under like some people
02:29might think they used to call it the undertow it just takes you away from shore and will let you go
02:34if you float and stay calm and like I said if you're a little tired and you start waving from
02:38for help someone on the beach might have a flotation device like this we have these up
02:43and down the coast in Florida and they could get that out to you and flotation saves lives
02:48and you remember this folks drowning can be prevented if you do your homework and you
02:52swim in front of lifeguards and do all the things that's necessary and identifying the rip currents
02:56and staying out of harm's way and if you are in a rip current not panic you won't drown.