Connecticut Sea Grant warned residents on Sept. 6 that dangerous rip currents are expected in Long Island Sound through the coming weekend, posing hazards to swimmers, surfers and boaters.
The main risk for rip currents is in the eastern end of the Sound, and on Atlantic Ocean beaches on Long Island, according to Melanie Fewings, marine sciences professor at the University of Connecticut.
According to the National Weather Service office in Upton, N.Y., the rip currents are due to swells from Hurricane Irma building in the region. Both Connecticut Sea Grant and the National Weather Service are part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is monitoring Hurricane Irma as well as tropical storms Jose and Katia through its National Hurricane Center.
Rip currents are channelized streams of water flowing away from shore. Even the strongest swimmers can be pulled into rip currents and away from shore. They account for 80 percent of rescues by lifeguards at coastal beaches, according to NOAA. Anyone caught in a rip current should not try to swim against it, but swim along the shoreline until free of the current, then swim at an angle away from the current toward shore. For more information about rip current safety, visit: ripcurrents.noaa.gov.
Residents are urged to keep up to date on the track of Hurricane Irma after it moves on its expected path through Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands and into Florida in the coming days, as well as on Tropical Storm Jose. The storm is currently about 1,000 miles east of the Lesser Antilles, heading west-northwest and is expected to strengthen into a hurricane later today, according to the National Hurricane Center. Tropical Storm Katia is currently in the Gulf of Mexico and is not posing a threat to the East Coast.
Residents are also advised to review hurricane preparation information available from NOAA and to take any advance steps possible so that their homes and families can best respond to a future weather emergency.
For information, visit NOAA’s Weather Ready Nation website at: http://www.weather.gov/wrn/ and the Department of Homeland Security’s Ready.gov website at: https://www.ready.gov/.
Connecticut Sea Grant, a partnership of the state and NOAA, is located at the University of Connecticut’s Avery Point campus.