Rip current statements issued for South Florida amid deadly surf

Rip current statements have been issued for South Florida — and the surf has proven to be deadly.

The National Weather Service said the high risk of rip currents continued Monday due to strong onshore winds.

Swimmers are advised to heed red flag warnings at the beach, which could mean that the water poses a high hazard or that it is closed entirely.

On Friday, 13-year-old Jerry Hyppolite drowned in rough ocean waters off Fort Lauderdale. And a man died after he was pulled from the water in Surfside, authorities said.

What is a rip current?

A rip current is a powerful, narrow channel of water flowing away from the beach and often extending through the breaker zone where waves form. They can emerge on sunny days, and can quickly sweep even the strongest swimmer out to sea.

“A rip current, basically, is water likes to go downhill. When breaking waves hit the shore, they get pushed up the beach,” said Daniel Noah, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the NWS office in Ruskin, Florida. “It’s trying to find the easiest way to get back into the water. And it finds these rip current channels and it can rapidly move back into the Gulf or the ocean.”

“The movement of water has a lot of force,” he added. “It’s dangerous for kids, it’s dangerous for adults, it’s dangerous for vehicles.”

What is it like to be caught in a rip current?

From the shore, the water may not look intense, but once you’re in the water, it’s a different story. Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue lifeguard Gio Benitez took NBC6's Marissa Bagg into a rip current to feel its power.

"First we saw out a bit, then all of a sudden we were getting swept out," Bagg wrote. "As waves crashed on top of us, exhaustion started to set in. I tried to swim to shore, only to get pushed out further. In the end, Benitez used his rescue tube to bring me back to shore. 

"The deceiving thing about being in the rip current for me is that I didn’t know I was in it until I was already in trouble. If the lifeguard wasn’t there to tell me what to do, I don’t know that I would’ve made it out by myself."

“People fight, they get tired and in that moment they don’t have energy and they go down in the water,” Benitez said.

What to do if you are caught in a rip current?

According to the NWS, you should "never fight against the current."

"Think of it like a treadmill that cannot be turned off, which you need to step to the side of," the agency advises.

Here's what they say to do:

• Swim out of the current in a direction following the shoreline. When out of the current, swim at an angle--away from the current--towards shore.
• If you are unable to swim out of the rip current, float or calmly tread water. When out of the current, swim towards shore.
• If you are still unable to reach shore, draw attention to yourself by waving your arm and yelling for help.

“People tend to think a rip currents will pull you under the water and keep you under the water, all the rip currents does is pull you out to sea,” said Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue Lt. Gio Serrano. “Never swim against a rip current, always swim parallel to shore. Go to the right or left, north or south. Call for help, wait for help, the best thing to do is always swim at a beach with lifeguards,” he said.