This weekends deadly riptides had first responders scrambling from beach to beach to help swimmers in distress. One local Gregory Andrus who runs the page “Portraits of the Jersey Shore” saw the rip tides coming, and decided to try and help. With a hot weekend, no lifeguards, a tropical storm off the coast, red flags up, and numerous warnings for the riptides this made a potential recipe for disaster. That’s when Gregory approached the family and told them they’re in a riptide and in a dangerous situation. The people just laughed at him. Greg told us “It just takes a second to have your life changed forever. Don’t disrespect the ocean. It is more powerful than you can ever imagine.”

Fortunately, for this family they were ok and police told them to get out of the water before anything bad happened. However, some locals weren’t as lucky. One man in his 50s was swept away at Brick Beach 1 and was later pronounced dead at Ocean Medical Center. Another Connecticut woman is in critical condition at Community Medical Center.

The picture above shows a family in the middle of a riptide. If you’re stuck in a riptide the best thing to do is don’t panic, and call for help. Panicking does not help the situation! Then you must swim parallel to the beach. You will not be able to swim toward the beach. The power of the water can suck you under.