People swim near the pier at Old Orchard Beach on July 16. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
Dangerous rip currents are expected along the Maine coast on Monday, according to a warning issued by the National Weather Service.
The coastal hazard message says there is a high risk of dangerous rip currents from 8 a.m. Monday through the evening in York, Cumberland, Sagadahoc, Lincoln and Knox counties.
“Rip currents can sweep even the best swimmers away from shore into deeper water,” the weather service statement said.
Lifeguards at some of the most popular swimming beaches in Maine have been on high alert this summer as more swimmers are being pulled into rip currents and need to be rescued. A series of high-water storms battered the shoreline last winter and reshaped the surf zone, creating a new system of largely invisible underwater troughs and sandbars.
Old Orchard Beach lifeguards have been especially busy rescuing swimmers caught in a newly formed rip current near the pier and others who step into a deep 6-foot trough formed between sandbars.
The Old Orchard Beach Fire Department posted a weather alert on Facebook about the dangerous rip currents expected Monday. Lifeguards will be on the beach from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The surf rescue captain may change the beach flag status to yellow to warn of a moderate hazard or red to close the beach to swimming after they have assessed local conditions, officials said.
The weather service is advising people to swim near a lifeguard. If they are caught in a rip current, swimmers should relax and float instead of trying to swim against the current. If they’re able, they can swim in the direction following the shoreline. If the swimmer cannot escape, they should face the shore and yell or wave for help, according to the weather service.
The weather service also issued a small craft advisory for 4 to 7 foot seas in coastal waters from Port Clyde to the Merrimack River in Massachusetts. That advisory is in affect until 6 a.m. Tuesday.
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