The National Weather Service has a warning for Outer Banks beachgoers this weekend — even distant hurricanes can be deadly.
Ernesto strengthened into a hurricane Wednesday and is expected to pass well east of North Carolina. But a great beach forecast combined with strong storm swell and higher than normal tides will bring dangerous conditions to the coast starting Friday, the weather service said.
Forecasters say a high risk of rip currents is likely for the entire North Carolina coast, along with ocean overwash flooding along the Outer Banks. Swimmers are urged to take rip current warnings seriously, and visit only lifeguarded beaches.
“We lost more lives in 2019 from Hurricane Lorenzo, a storm 2,000 miles away, than with Hurricane Dorian,” the NWS Newport/Morehead City forecast office said in a social media post.
As Lorenzo moved up the East Coast beginning Sept. 23, 2019, there were seven drowning deaths — four in North Carolina. Hurricane Dorian, which made landfall over Cape Hatteras on Sept. 6, 2019, was responsible for a total of 77 deaths — 74 in the Bahamas and three in North Carolina, all in accidents while preparing for or cleaning up from the storm.
Rip currents are powerful, channeled currents of water flowing rapidly away from shore, the weather service said. They typically extend from the shoreline, through the surf zone and past the line of breaking waves.
“Drowning deaths occur when people pulled offshore are unable to keep themselves afloat and swim to shore,” the NWS website said. “This may be due to any combination of fear, panic, exhaustion, or lack of swimming skills. Rip currents are the greatest surf zone hazard to all beachgoers. They can sweep even the strongest swimmer out to sea.”
The weather service said the Outer Banks will begin to feel Ernesto’s impacts early Friday. Strong swells will combine with high astronomical tides, creating not just rip currents, but ocean overwash flooding along vulnerable areas of the Outer Banks.
“The greatest window of concern will be Friday morning into early next week,” the weather service said.
