Lifeguards have rescued dozens of people from the churning waters along East Coast beaches even as Hurricane Erin moves hundreds of miles offshore.
Officials in North Carolina said at least 60 people had to be rescued from rip currents at Wrightsville Beach, prompting a no-swim order in place through the rest of the week, according to reporting from the Wilmington Star-News, part of the USA TODAY Network.
At least a dozen other people were rescued from rip currents at South Carolina and Georgia beaches on Aug. 18, the National Weather Service in Charleston, South Carolina, said.
Erin has made conditions prime along East Coast beaches for life-threatening rip currents that can catch people off guard, National Hurricane Center Director Mike Brennan said in a news briefing over the weekend. Weather conditions might look ideal for a beach trip, but rip currents can be a hard-to-spot danger lurking for swimmers.
The threat exists up and down the entire East Coast, hurricane forecasters said. Beaches as far north as Massachusetts are closed to swimmers due to rough surf. In Atlantic City, New Jersey, officials said beachgoers were restricted to getting knee-deep into the water and were prohibited from using boogie boards.
