New signs at Nickerson Beach warn of rip current dangers

Alexandra de Moura was a star athlete at Garden City High School whose talents earned her a gymnastics scholarship to George Washington University.

But despite her athletic prowess, de Moura was unaware of how to navigate a rip current while vacationing with friends in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in 2019. De Moura, who was in waist-deep water, attempted to fight the rip current before she tired out and was swept away. Her body was recovered two days later.

In the nearly four years since her daughter's death, Josephine de Moura has been on a mission to increase education about the dangerous currents that can carry people far out in the ocean, where they can drown.

On Wednesday, de Moura joined Nassau officials to unveil rip current warning signs dedicated to Alexandra at county-run Nickerson Beach in Lido Beach.

"If I can save one family from the devastation that my family and I are going through, then this is my mission," de Moura said. "Knowledge is power. I want to educate everyone about … how to avoid a rip current. This is going to save many lives."

The county is placing eight warning signs at the foot of Nickerson Beach advising swimmers how to break the grip of a rip current.

Similar signage is in place at Long Island State beaches, according to George Gorman Jr., regional director of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

The most important tip, officials said, is not to fight the current as even the best swimmers will tire out and potentially drown. Instead, experts suggest turning sideways, parallel to the shore, and to wade, swim or tread water until out of the rip current before moving back toward shore at an angle away from the rush of water. In addition, officials advise the public to never swim alone and always near a lifeguard.

"The natural instinct for someone is to try and fight your way out of it," said Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, adding that the risk of rip currents is far greater than being bit by sharks, despite several recent incidents on Long Island. " … And that's the absolute opposite thing that you should do if you're caught in a rip current."

Rip currents are responsible for more than 100 deaths each year and 80% of all lifeguard rescues, according to the United State Lifesaving Association.

The signage comes nearly a year after Nassau Legis. Josh Lafazan (D-Woodbury) introduced Alexandra's Law, which would mandate conspicuous rip current warning signs at county beaches.

The new signs, which include details about Alexandra's drowning, are in addition to flags posted by lifeguards closer to shore alerting swimmers to rip current conditions. For example, a green flag indicates the water is safe; yellow indicates some rip current activity is expected and red means conditions are hazardous and the water is closed to swimming.

Rip currents are powerful, narrow channels of fast-moving water — often moving at speeds of 8 feet per second or faster than an Olympic swimmer — that are most prevalent along the East, Gulf, and West coasts of the U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The National Weather Service puts out rip current warnings on its website.

Typically, rip currents can form, disappear and re-form quickly along the shoreline, according to NY Sea Grant at Stony Brook University. Rip currents can appear near structures that run perpendicular to the coast like groins, jetties and piers, and are typically strongest between where waves first break and where they land on the beach.

Last summer, Benjamin Kitburi, 31, of Montauk, drowned after being pulled into a rip current at Ditch Plains Beach in Montauk.

For Josephine de Moura, the next mission is for health curricula across Long Island to include lessons in how to spot and navigate rip currents. To date, Alexandra's alma mater in Garden City is the only school known to offer such a program, she said.

Alexandra "was all about helping people and volunteering," said de Mouras, who has also launched a foundation named for her daughter that seeks to raise money for rip current education "And I know that this is what she wants me to do. She wants me to save lives in her honor. And I'm going to do that."

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.