One person was killed and nearly two dozen people had to be rescued from rough surf this weekend in the waters off of area beaches, officials say.
Kashawn Carlos, 23, was killed Saturday after he and a friend were pulled out to sea by a rip current at Long Beach. The friend was rescued by an off-duty lifeguard, but Carlos wasn't found for about an hour, at which point, he had died, police said. The two friends had ignored orders to get out of the ocean as lifeguards went off-duty, according to police.
In all, over two dozen people had to be rescued from rough surf over the weekend, as thousands descended on area beaches to cool off amid steamy summer temperatures. At least ten people were rescued at Long Beach alone on Sunday, where Carlos had died a day earlier. Several more people had to be rescued there as the evening wore on, officials said.
Rip currents are the result of water rushing out in one area of a beach. They were especially rough this weekend. There's a high rip current risk alert through Monday.
"Today was a lot rougher," one beachgoer said on Sunday. "People ought to be careful. There's only so much life guards can do."
Around the same time that Carlos and his friend were pulled by the rip current, emergency responders were called to Beach 98th Street in Rockaway Beach to help pull a person from the water. He or she was rescued and had minor injuries, according to officials.
Less than a half hour after the Beach 98th Street rescue, the FDNY was called to Beach 116th Street in Rockaway Beach to rescue three people there. One of them was taken to an area hospital in serious condition, the FDNY said.
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John Skudin, a Long Beach beach supervisor, says people should remain calm if they're caught in a rip current.
"If they do open up and you get caught in a rip current, don't fight the rip current," Skudin said. "Try to calm down. Swim parallel to the shore."
