Rip current warnings in place, due to heavy surf at Jersey shore, ahead of busy Labor Day weekend

NORTH WILDWOOD N.J. - In the wake of Tropical Storm Idalia and Hurricane Franklin, there are warnings in place to be careful at the Jersey shore because of rip currents.

Rough surf and no swimming warnings, yet, in North Wildwood Wednesday night where the main attraction were the waves. It’s the kind of conditions that make many in North Wildwood cringe.

For years, the beach at the north end of town has been disappearing at an alarming pace. Erosion has virtually wiped away the beach from 2nd to 6th avenues.

"More and more people come down and you are going to have less and less back and it’s going to make things tighter," Ed Murray stated.

NORTH WILDWOOD COVERAGE:

• Tropical storms, hurricanes taking toll on North Wildwood beaches
• North Wildwood sues New Jersey for $21M in sand dunes battle
• North Wildwood using millions in tax money to preserve shrinking beach
• Erosion keeping some North Wildwood beaches closed Memorial Day weekend
• North Wildwood officials watch in frustration as beaches wash away, while waiting for state response

Waves may not be good for the beach, but they are good for surfers. Overhead high waves made for perfect conditions.

"It’s stacked up. When the break is like this, everybody knows where to go and are on top of each other," Zach Kruger explained. "You love this weather. It’s good."

RELATED HURRICANE COVERAGE:

• Idalia digs inland as tropical storm, immersing Southeast in floodwaters following historic Florida landfall
• Franklin to rapidly intensify into season’s first major hurricane; East Coast to see dangerous rip currents

But all the heavy surf also means rip tides keeping local lifeguards busy. Rip tides have been an issue all summer.

Steve Stocks, the chief of the Wildwood Beach Patrol, displayed video of a rip tide rescue of a man Saturday, in Wildwood.

Stock says 80 percent of ocean rescues are from rip currents. Sometimes hard to spot from the beach, lifeguards say they’ll be on high alert through the Labor Day weekend. "When we get in, we evaluate the ocean. If need be, we keep people at waist deep or knee-deep, or if it’s bad, ankle deep or out of the water at all."