More than 350 rescues took place on 4th of July in Newport Beach alone.
Independence Day in Newport Beach, California, is a one-of-a-kind celebration. Beach cities up and down the West Coast are known for their fireworks shows and drawing large crowds for the summer holiday, but none of them seem to be as popular as that one stretch of coast in Orange County.
According to multiple reports following this year’s 4th of July, the strong south swell that graced SoCal on the holiday created quite a bit of chaos among all the tourists and out-of-towners who’d arrived for their annual beach days. Hundreds of rescues were reported across the state, with towns like Huntington Beach, for example, reporting over 150 rescues from its lifeguards. Lifeguards in neighboring Newport Beach, however, say they responded to more than 350 calls throughout the same day. For some perspective, Huntington Beach covers about 8.5 miles of coastline while Newport Beach covers 10 miles of California coast, so there’s clearly a significant discrepancy in how busy both cities were.
One particular rescue in Newport required a boat and helicopter assistance from the Huntington Beach Police Department when a group of 10 swimmers were caught in a massive rip.
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“South swell’s in the water, so there’s big lulls in the surf. And when the sets come there’s five or six waves per set, and they’re pretty big. So it looks calm for a little while and then a big set comes in and, you know, people get tossed around,” one Newport Beach local explained to KTLA. “(That) water has to go back out and it creates rip tides.”
The United States Lifesaving Association reports there are more than 100 deaths annually caused by rip currents.
