Expert explains why Nickel Plate has deadly rip currents

HURON — All beaches have water currents, but Nickel Plate is the only one in Erie County where they've killed people. That's according to statistics on water current related deaths collected by the National Weather Service from 2002 until 2018. In July 2002, four men jumped into the water at Nickel Plate to help a woman struggling with the current. She was saved, but the men drowned.The dangers of the currents at Nickel Plate Beach have been brought to the attention of the public again following the recent deaths of Alvin Martin, 18, of Ashland, and Brittany Young, 29, of Vermilion.Both tragedies occurred within the same month at Nickel Plate, leading the city of Huron — which maintains the beach — to close it until it can be made safer. A security gate is being added to the beach to better secure it."Rick Poorman, Latanick Equipment, has donated a security gate system for the entrance into the park today," Huron City manager Andy White said. "Our estimate of value is $5,000 and I contacted Mr. Poorman to thank him personally."What makes Nickel Plate's currents dangerous?According to the service, the deaths in 2002 were related to rip currents — a narrow current flowing away from the shore toward deeper water — which is dangerous for all swimmers.A rip current flows away from the shore.The current is caused when waves breaking at the shore cause water to collect, which then returns to the lake in a narrow channel. It occurs at Nickel Plate when there are high waves and certain wind conditions.Lake Erie is well above its normal water-level this year, and just like when the 2002 deaths occurred, the wind is coming in from the North East."In the Sandusky area, just because of how you're oriented on the lake, you get larger waves when you have a North East wind because it has a larger fetch," said Karen Oudeman, a National Weather Service meteorologist.Fetch is the length of open water that wind has traveled over. There's much more open water to the North East of Nickel Plate. Larger unobstructed paths mean more powerful wind and stronger waves. "Wherever there is breaking water there are going to be dangerous currents and the strength of the current changes with the size of the wave," said Dave Benjamin.Benjamin is the founder and executive director of the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, a nonprofit organization that keeps track of rescues and tries to educate the public to prevent drownings. The city of Huron has been consulting with the project to help come up with methods of making the beach safer. Benjamin warned other types of currents could pose a significant risk at Nickel Plate as well."When the wind hits the shore at an angle it can cause a longshore current, which runs parallel to the shore and can feed into a rip current," Benjamin said.Longshore currents flow parallel to the shore.When a long-shore current hits a barrier like Nickel Plate's jetty — a long pier that stretches out into the water to protect the harbor from currents — it turns into a structural current, which can carry a person away from shore.Structural currents occur near a large object stretching out in the water."Any solid structure along the water can have currents flowing around it even on calm days," Benjamin said.How can Nickel Plate be safer?Benjamin said a lifeguard would have an immediate impact. That's because a lifeguard could educate people on where currents are located and help prevent swimmers from getting carried out into the lake.But White is resistant to that idea. He pointed out at Tuesday's city council meeting they had trained rescue professionals in the water trying to find Young, but it was so bad that some of them got into trouble."So I worry about the additional risk posed to lifeguards who would come to the beach," White said. "But with that being said, it's something to be considered."At Tuesday's meeting, several people gave suggestions of limiting the area where swimming is allowed to a shallower depth."We've talked about defining a swim area that would be no farther than 4-feet deep and move it away from the pier," White said. "The tremendous force and energy that's created reverberate some length down the beach and there are going to be conditions where I don't think it's going to be safe even with those safety features in place."It's for this reason that after Martin's death, the city checked the beach's condition each morning to see if it was safe to open. But White wants to be able to close it at any time."What's most import is the detection of the turning of events," White said. "I think council through its vested power in my office should be able to close the beach Monday morning, Friday afternoon, Sunday, it doesn't matter."The city doesn't have a policy in place for closing the beach on the weekend when the staff is off, and White said that's the situation they got into on Sunday with Young.His office is researching a warning system that records wind and wave activity and could set off an alarm or strobe light when it's too dangerous to be in the water.White said the city is also in the process of relocating the rescue box closer to the water and including life jacket in it as well as the life ring. The city is also looking into a program to provide the police department with a personal watercraft to store at the beach.Another option Benjamin suggested, updating the signage to be specific to the dangers at the beach, is already underway. White said the city has placed an order to erect six signs along the beach with information on rip currents and what to do in an emergency situation.What to do if you're stuck in a current?The project advocates for people to use the "Flip, Float and Follow" method, which tells the person who is struggling to flip over, float on their back and to not fight against the current.Experts say when caught in a current you shouldn't try to fight against it."The toughest thing to do if you're caught in a rip current is to swim directly to shore," Oudeman said.Once a person figures out which way the current is moving they should swim perpendicular to the current until they're out of it. Benjamin said education inside schools is the best and most cost efficient way to try to prevent the number of drownings."Public education is the missing piece of the puzzle for water safety," Benjamin said. "Schools have fire drills, active shooter drills and tornado drills, but drowning kills more children every year than fires, guns and tornados."Benjamin wants the "Flip, Float and Follow" slogan to become as well known to people as the "Stop, Drop and Roll" motto taught to children during fire safety.The U.S. Coast Guard and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources both recommend people wear life jackets when going into the lake.Reach reporter Michael Harrington at michaelharrington@sanduskyregister.com, follow the Register at Facebook.com/SanduskyRegisterFirst responders fight the waves as they search the water for a missing woman at Nickel Plate Beach in Huron on Sunday, July 21, 2019.