Hampton Beach saw 144 water rescues last week
'With Hurricane Erin coming up the coast, the NH State Beach Patrol-Ocean Lifeguards are encouraging all beachgoers to always swim near a lifeguard,' Murphy wrote.
Hampton Beach has lifeguard coverage from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., he said.
Last year, 66 people died in rip currents along US shores, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A rip current is a powerful, narrow channel of water flowing away from the beach and often extending through the breaker zone where waves form.
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People caught in a rip current should not try to fight it but go out with the current, then swim parallel
to the shoreline before turning back toward the shore.
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Erin is on track to pass hundreds of miles from the East Coast, but the Category 4 storm will still produce some rough surf and dangerous rip currents along New England's coastline, starting Tuesday.
Erin continues to churn in the Atlantic, packing winds of 140 miles per hour and is expected to begin turning north over the next several days and parallel the East Coast. The high surf and rip currents are forecast to ramp up Thursday and Friday as the storm passes the Northeast,
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Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at
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