Earlier this week, the South Fork began bracing for dangerous surf, strong rip currents, and the potential for dune erosion from Hurricane Erin, with the most significant impacts expected Thursday and Friday.
“While the storm itself is forecast to remain several hundred miles from us, we will still feel its effects here, particularly in the ocean,” East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said on Tuesday.
By Tuesday evening, lifeguard stands had been moved back from the water’s edge or removed entirely from ocean beaches in East Hampton Town and Village. Red flags Tuesday warned all but the most experienced swimmers to stay out of the water and by Wednesday swimming was prohibited at all town, village, and state beaches on the ocean and access was cut off too because of the dangerous conditions and significantly shortened beaches.
“There’s lots of debris washing up on the beach,” said Drew Smith, the village’s head lifeguard. “Waves and storm surge are only going to progress. Closing access will help us alleviate the concerns of someone walking and getting swept off their feet by a wave.”
“If you see a red flag, only experienced swimmers are allowed in and fins are required,” Ms. Burke-Gonzalez said. A red flag with a swimmer crossed out means no swimming. “These warnings are not there to keep you from enjoying the ocean. They are there to keep you safe.”
“All the lifeguard stands have been pulled back to the beach heads,” John Ryan Jr., the town’s chief lifeguard, said Wednesday morning. “Some of them, like along motel row in Montauk, had to be removed.”
Mr. Ryan was busy Wednesday as he walked Kirk Park Beach in Montauk preparing for massive surf and a shrunken beach. As he spoke by phone, kids could be heard screaming as they played near the water, and at one point, he had to stop to warn parents about the risk. “You can’t have little kids near the water,” he told a woman. “It’s a death trap. They’re going to get knocked off their feet and sucked out.” Turning back to the phone conversation he said, “People are like, ‘Oh, it’s just water at their feet.’ But the next set of waves comes in and they’re waist deep and the backwash sucks them out. Then the parent goes in, and we’re dealing with rescuing parents and kids. People don’t realize that their decision may not be Mother Nature’s decision.” “One year a woman in Montauk walked around the barricades that were put in place with her dog.” They were both sucked out to sea and drowned.
The town’s Highway Department used a payloader Wednesday to place and shape sand at two of the Ditch Plain parking lots in Montauk “to ensure the safety of all beach patrons and to safeguard vulnerable areas along the shoreline,” according to a town notice.
High tide had taken the rack line up to the toe of the dunes in many places, Town Councilman David Lys said Wednesday morning, adding that the downtown Montauk beach was “holding up in the area of the Army Corps project” but that other areas were “starting to see significant decrease in sand profiling through the two most recent high tides.” Beaches “will remain closed until it is deemed to be safe,” East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen said Wednesday.
Swimming restrictions at Hither Hills and other lifeguarded state parks will be re-evaluated Thursday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a press release Wednesday. Lifeguards remain on duty to keep people from entering the water.
Preparations were reviewed and a coordinated plan put in motion at a Monday meeting with the Police Department, town lifeguards, emergency management, Marine Patrol, Councilman David Lys, and the Highway, Parks and Building Maintenance, and Recreation Departments.
Forecasts at that time showed waves building to 15 to 20 feet.
