VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Hundreds of people from Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and the Outer Banks were rescued from the ocean water during the Fourth of July weekend.
Norfolk's lifeguards completed eight rescues, eighteen Medical responses, and two missing children were located over the holiday weekend.
In Virginia Beach, over 120 rescues were conducted involving more than 260 people between Saturday and Tuesday night, according to the city's ocean rescue.
What started as relaxing and hot day on the beach, suddenly got very scary for Travis Tessenear and Melody Ludwig.
"We were on the boogie board and we were trying to ride the waves and we didn’t know we got so far," said 11-year-old Tessenear from Williamsburg.
Ludwig said suddenly the water was above their heads.
"The water was pulling us under and we were trying to get back up on the boogie board and go back," she said.
That’s when a lifeguard jumped into action to pull them to safety.
Something Tom Gill from Virginia Beach Lifesaving Service says they’ve done more than 200 times since Saturday.
"That’s a big number for us. That’s not the norm," he said.
Of those 200 people, paramedics took three of them to the hospital for taking in a lot of water. They're expected to be okay.
"The guards are on top of it. They're seeing it really well. They're acting quickly."
Gill said it's not that rip currents are pulling people deeper into the ocean, they're pushing them laterally. As the ocean floor switches from sandbars to troughs, people are suddenly in very deep water without realizing it.
Throughout all of last summer, Gill said they rescued just under 400 people, double what they've seen in just three days this year.
He said that had to do with an extremely long stretch without red flags flying.
"This year, we’ve had red flags up consistently," Gill said.
They’re expecting to put them up again Tuesday.
Gill said if you are coming to the beach for July 4th, make sure you keep an eye on your family and water conditions.
"Come on down. We’re not telling you not to come here, but if you see those red flags up, go check in with the lifeguards. They're gonna tell you the best places to swim and make sure that you're not going to put yourself in a dangerous situation."
Ludwig and Tessenear said they’re glad so many lifeguards were keeping an eye on them.
"We were so glad that they were coming to get us," said Ludwig.
Tessenear agreed.
"If there weren’t, it would’ve been a different story," he said.
On the Outer Banks, the Kill Devil Hills Ocean Rescue said it had 29 water rescues and 17 medical calls, and Chicamacomico Banks Fire Department serving Rodanthe, Waves, and Salvo performed 21 ocean rescues.
The rescues come as Accomack County and Currituck County in North Carolina were at moderate risk of rip currents Monday and July 4.
When speaking to Outer Banks officials ahead of the holiday weekend they reiterated the importance of safety Erik Heden, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Morehead City, touched on the dangers of rip currents:
"They are the number one, number one weather-related killer in Coastal North Carolina," Heden said. "They are extremely fast, faster than an Olympic swimmer. They do not pull you under, they pull you out."
"Know how to swim left or right or parallel to the shore to get out of it. As we like to advocate, if you're getting in the water, having a device like a boogie board can help you realize what to do," Heden said.
Tips like these could make the difference between life and death.
Back in Virginia Beach, Gill also said they’ve already worked around 70 lost children cases on the beach over the last three days.
He said they’ve all been reunited. However, he urges parents to keep an eye on their kids because time lifeguards spend looking around, takes their eyes away from the water.
Gill also recommends taking a picture of your child and what they’re wearing when you get to the beach to make it easier to track them down if you get separated.