Aug 22, 2009 12:31 pm US/Eastern
Rip Currents: Escaping The Dangerous Drag
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
You are swimming or playing in the surf at the beach, when suddenly you feel yourself being pulled away from shore. You are caught in a rip current.
More than 100 deaths nationwide are blamed on rip currents each year, and the New England coast is no exception. Massachusetts Emergency officials issued a
swimming warning for the entire weekend at all coastal beaches. "Life-threatening rip currents" are expected as a result of Hurricane Bill's power offshore.
HOW THEY FORM
Rip currents are caused by water flowing back away from a beach. That water can funnel through breaks in the natural ocean sandbars, creating a powerful and narrow channel of water. That current can pull a swimmer underwater, and out to sea.
Even the most powerful swimmer can succumb to a rip current, if they don't know the way to escape.
HOW TO ESCAPE
The most important thing to do if you find yourself caught by a rip current, is not to panic. Do yell for help so that people onshore are aware that you are in trouble.
If you try to swim directly back into shore, you are fighting the power of hundreds of pounds of water. The most likely result is that you tire yourself out, and not be able to return to shore on your own power.
To break free from the powerful drag, you must swim parallel to shore – in order to get out of the channel of water that is flowing back out to sea.
Once you feel the rip current stop pulling you, start making you way back to shore by swimming at an angle away from the current.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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