{"id":255193,"date":"2026-07-30T03:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T03:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/255193\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T03:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T03:42:08","slug":"stay-safe-high-risk-of-rip-currents-in-lake-erie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/255193\/","title":{"rendered":"Stay safe! High risk of rip currents in Lake Erie"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) &#8211; Lifeguards at Edgewater Beach were advising people to stay out of the water due to <a href=\"https:\/\/forecast.weather.gov\/showsigwx.php?warnzone=OHZ011&amp;warncounty=OHC035&amp;firewxzone=OHZ011&amp;local_place1=Cleveland%20OH&amp;product1=Beach+Hazards+Statement&amp;lat=41.4968&amp;lon=-81.6657\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/forecast.weather.gov\/showsigwx.php?warnzone=OHZ011&amp;warncounty=OHC035&amp;firewxzone=OHZ011&amp;local_place1=Cleveland%20OH&amp;product1=Beach+Hazards+Statement&amp;lat=41.4968&amp;lon=-81.6657\">dangerous rip current conditions<\/a>, Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The Cleveland Fire Department is urging swimmers to be aware of the risks posed in the water.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Lt. Michael Norman with Cleveland Fire said the ability to swim is the most critical factor in water safety.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe think the most important thing is swimming \u2014 the ability to swim,\u201d Norman said. \u201cWe want people to be strong swimmers. That\u2019s the best way to prevent drowning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Norman said water poses a risk at all times, not just during severe conditions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI think the water is dangerous all the time \u2014 you just have to be mindful of it,\u201d Norman said. \u201cA five-gallon bucket full of water is enough for a toddler to tip over and drown in, so any amount of water can be dangerous for people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Norman said swimmers should always enter the water where lifeguards are present.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cMake sure that you understand the conditions that are going on underneath the surface of the water,\u201d Norman said. \u201cThere could be undercurrents that could pull people away from the shore, like we had last night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Norman was referring to the rescue of a 10-year-old girl Tuesday night around 8:15 p.m. at Edgewater Beach. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The girl was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Norman said if a bystander sees someone go under or struggle in the water, they should keep a close eye on where the person went down to help rescuers locate them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">He offered the following guidance for those who attempt to assist before first responders arrive:<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cReach or throw, but don\u2019t go,\u201d Norman said. \u201cIf you can reach them with a pole or throw a rope to them, or throw them a flotation device or something to help them stay afloat \u2014 but you don\u2019t want to go in after someone. That could create another victim, unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WOIO. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) &#8211; Lifeguards at Edgewater Beach were advising people to stay out of the water due&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[108744,108743,108742,136,138,137,108745,108746],"class_list":["post-255193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-cleveland-fire-department-drowning-prevention","tag-cleveland-water-safety","tag-edgewater-beach-rip-current","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-lake-erie-swimming-danger","tag-rip-current-safety-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}