All beaches on the southern Brooklyn and Queens shores are closed for swimming this weekend thanks to concerns about strong rip currents from Hurricane Ernesto, which is battering Bermuda.
The city’s Parks Department announced the Aug. 17-18 closure for all beaches from Coney Island through the Rockaways. The closure also includes Jacob Riis Park’s beach, which the National Park Service oversees.
Visitors can sunbathe on the beaches, but they won’t be allowed in the water — as the National Weather Service is predicting strong swells of up to 6 feet throughout the weekend, which can generate what the city’s Parks Department described as “life-threatening rip currents.”
Both lifeguards and Parks enforcement staff will be actively working Saturday and Sunday to keep people out of the water. Rip currents are an annual danger on the city’s beaches; this summer, the city has seen several bathers die after being pulled under the surf.
“Lifeguards will be on duty and patrolling the beaches, and we strongly urge all New Yorkers not to risk their lives by ignoring this directive,” said NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue.
The rip current danger stems from Hurricane Ernesto, which made landfall early Saturday morning on the island of Bermuda, located some 773 miles southeast of New York City. Bermuda was hit with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, serious storm surge and major flooding.
Ernesto is expected to head out to sea Saturday morning and does not pose a threat to make landfall in the United States.
