Expert worries about rip current increase and 'COVID fatigue' on P.E.I. beaches

An expert believes there could be increased risk from rip currents on P.E.I.'s North Shore beaches this summer due to post-tropical storm Dorian.

Prof. Chris Houser, who is with the Department of Earth and Environmental Ccience and dean of science at Windsor University, says Dorian caused a considerable amount of sand dune erosion, which moved the sand offshore in the form ofnear-shore bars.

"Those bars are continuing to migrate back towards the beach. As those bars come back towards the beach, they develop rip currents. In fact, rips are one of the reasons why near-shore bars migrate landward," he said.

"These rips were starting to go up in places that are common to have rips, but also in some other areas that aren't as common."

'That great reprieve'

Houser has led a number of projects on rip currents in P.E.I. and the Great Lakes region. He also sits on the P.E.I. rip current advisory committee.

He said making sure people know the rip current risks when they're at the beach is imperative.

"What we actually found is that those who could not recall seeing the warning flag that was posted by the lifeguard tended to sit farther and farther away from those lifeguards, and in fact, were swimming outside of the supervised area," Houser said.

"We've got to make sure that those warnings, those flags, are in people's faces and they're right there so that they potentially change some of their behaviour.

"Unfortunately, though, with social distancing, that becomes a little bit more difficult because you're going to want to spread out further and further, which increases the reach over which the lifeguards need to to supervise."

Houser also warns against something he calls "COVID fatigue."

People are seeking a reprieve from responsibilities when heading to "that great reprieve" of an Island beach, he said.

"It's warm and it's fun they can sometimes ignore the warnings that are on top of all the other warnings that we're having to heed, and as a result, not pay attention to them and put themselves in harm's way," he said.

On the Island, Parks Canada warned visitors of dangerous surf conditions in P.E.I. National Park on three days this week. Cabot Beach Provincial Park has also been closed to swimmers for the year due to extremely dangerous currents.

"Rips are always present," Houser said."The surf is still dangerous ... the precautions that you would have taken in the past are the same ones you have to take nowadays."

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