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<\/p>\nPOINT LOOKOUT, Nassau County (WABC) — Officials at a Long Island beach are on high alert after lifeguards spotted a 9-foot shark in the water.<\/p>\n
Point Lookout and neighboring Hempstead beaches were red flagged for swimming on Thursday following the sighting.<\/p>\n
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Two teens who were out surfing at 9:45 Thursday morning said they saw it a bit closer.<\/p>\n
“Like some shadow in the water, kinda charging at us, he turned like four feet away I saw a full body of a shark,” said surfer Brendan Halpin.<\/p>\n
Hempstead Lifeguard Eamon Flynn immediately confirmed it.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes could be a dolphin, could not be ..but this was fairly easy to identify,” Flynn said. “The second we put our eyes on it, we knew that it was a shark.”<\/p>\n
Lifeguards patrolled along the shore as well as in jet skis and also used drones as all town beaches were closed to swimming in 100-degree plus temperatures as far west as Long Beach.<\/p>\n
Swimmers dipped their feet in and weren’t allowed back in until about 1:15 p.m.<\/p>\n
“Of course on what may be the most hottest day of the year, the shark decides to pay a visit to the town of Hempstead waterways,” said Hempstead Town Supervisor John Ferretti.<\/p>\n
Beachgoers are well aware that sharks live in the waters, but the hardest part was not swimming in the heat.<\/p>\n
Additionally, there were intermittent beach closures at Rockaway Beach in Queens due to multiple shark sightings.<\/p>\n
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