1 dead in NC beach rip currents, 40 weekend surf rescues amid Hurricane Ernesto swells

SURF CITY, N.C. (WNCN) — As Hurricane Ernesto was hundreds of miles off North Carolina over the weekend, the storm was felt along the coast with an Outer Banks home collapse , flooding on roads and now a death from rip currents stirred up by the storm.

The National Weather Service in Wilmington reported that on Saturday around 2:45 p.m., a man drowned in a rip current in Surf City in Pender County.

The death of the 41-year-old near beach access No. 10 is the fourth confirmed rip current fatality in North Carolina waters since July 4.

It’s at least the seventh death overall of people swimming at the coast — the most recent before Saturday was on July 27 when a boy drowned at Corolla Beach .

Swells from Hurricane Ernesto also led to at least 40 rip current rescues over the weekend, the weather service said.

The most rescues were at Wrightsville Beach, with 33 over two days. Also in New Hanover County, Carolina Beach had seven rip current rescues over the weekend while Kure Beach had one, the National Weather Service reported.

The rip currents are still menacing the coast with red flag warnings Monday along nearly all North Carolina beaches.

The high surf from Hurricane Ernesto also caused other problems over the weekend. A home was swept into the sea in the Rodanthe community on Hatteras Island — marking the seventh such incident at the coast in four years.

Swells and surf also washed under several homes in Buxton, breaking apart debris from the houses and compromising septic systems.

The Cape Hatteras National Seashore reported beaches were closed while debris from the collapsed home was seen as far as 11 miles north. Also, swimming near Buxton is not advised because of the septic systems and debris.

Elsewhere on the North Carolina coast, N.C. 12 along the Outer Banks was covered by water in areas over the weekend as Ernesto overwash covered the main highway.

So far since July 4 there have been these previous deaths:

• Amir Abou, 12, of Maryland drowned on July 27 at Corolla Beach at the Outer Banks in Currituck County, officials said . About 20 lifeguards and a jet ski were among 50 first responders helping to look for the boy, The Virginian Pilot reported.
  
• On July 15 at Surf City in Pender County, 57-year-old Minh Ha Nguyen of Richmond, Virginia, died after drowning during dangerous rip currents. His death has not yet been classified as due to rip currents, the National Weather Service said.
  
• A teen girl from Winston-Salem died when she was caught in rip currents on July 14 at Ocean Isle Beach along the southeast North Carolina coast in Brunswick County.
  
• Mainor Perez Velasquez, 14, of Goldsboro and his brother waded out into waters near the New River Inlet at North Topsail Island on July 4. The 14-year-old vanished and was found dead July 7 along a shore at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune .
  
• An 18-year-old man died after getting caught in a rip current in Nags Head on July 4, the National Weather Service said.
  
• Also on July 4, a 22-year-old man drowned because of rip currents at Kure Beach — during a four-day stretch when there were many rescues at North Carolina beaches.

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