Hurricane Cristobal Kills 7: Two Swimmers Die in Rip Currents Off U.S. East Coast

Associated Press
Published: August 28,2014


 
Hurricane Cristobal was moving rapidly into the Northern Atlantic Thursday and generating heavy surf and dangerous rip currents off the coast of southern New England.
The storm is blamed for at least seven deaths, including those of two teens in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and Ocean City, Maryland.
Authorities retrieved the body of a 17-year-old boy from ocean waters in Sandy Hook on Wednesday. Witnesses told the Asbury Park Press that the 17-year-old boy was swimming in an unguarded beach area along the Sandy Hook Coast when a rip current overpowered him. The boy was pulled from the water and taken to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
In Ocean City, WDEL reported that witnesses said the 18-year-old-man from El Salvador was having trouble swimming back to shore when he was hit by a wave and drowned.
(MORE: Where Cristobal Is Headed | Marie Churns in the Pacific )
In addition to creating heavy surf, Cristobal was expected to dump up to 4 inches of rain over Bermuda and lesser amounts over the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos.
Hotel owners and tourist operators in Bermuda were upset about the forecast, noting that August already has been one of the rainiest months in recent history for the British island territory.
"It's been a ridiculous, endless amount of rain," said Marlie Powell, owner of the Kingston House Bed & Breakfast. "It's the height of our tourist season, so it's not a happy thing."
Turks and Caicos officials reported one death after recovering a body from floodwaters on the main island of Providenciales.
In addition to the person who died in Turks and Caicos, floodwaters killed two men in the Dominican Republic and two people in Haiti, where roughly 640 families were left temporarily homeless.