OCEAN CITY -- Jo Ann Savage intends to take her niece and nephew to Ocean City this weekend, but swimming will not be on the activity list.
"After what happened to that poor man and his daughter, I don't think so," Savage, a Berlin resident, said Friday.
On Thursday, a Columbia, Md., man and his three daughters vacationing in Ocean City were swept into the ocean by rip currents near 78th Street, resort police said.
While two of Douglas Martin's daughters make it back to shore safely, Martin, 46, and his 15-year-old daughter, Amy, were pulled from the waters by the U.S. Coast Guard, police said. They were taken to Atlantic General Hospital in Berlin, where both were pronounced dead.
The incident was a fresh reminder of the dangers of rip currents -- powerful, channeled currents of water -- while swimming in the ocean. Usually formed between the beach and sandbars, the water rushes back out to the sea through a low point on the ocean floor.
"Basically, it's like a river going out to sea," said Lt. Ward Kovacs of the Ocean City Beach Patrol.
According to the U.S. Lifesaving Association, more than 100 deaths a year at beaches across the country are due to rip currents.
Although the waters were calm Friday, Kovacs said recent storms such as Tropical Depression Ernesto have made Ocean City more susceptible to rip currents.
"It's made the surf bigger, which eats holes in the sandbar," he said. "It cuts a channel that makes the water rush out faster."
Kovacs said lifeguards can usually spot rip currents to warn swimmers. However, Thursday's incident happened after the Beach Patrol's final shift at 5:30 p.m.
"After that, people who choose to swim do so at their own risk," he said.
As many beach patrols on the Delmarva Peninsula wind down the busy season by scaling down manpower, residents can still guard against rip currents if they choose to swim.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has established a Web site where people can check to see where rip currents may be in their area, said meteorologist and NOAA spokesman Dennis Feltgen.
Still, if someone finds themselves caught in a rip current, they shouldn't panic, Kovacs said.
"Swim parallel to the beach about the length of a pool and then turn in," he said. "If you still find yourself in trouble, repeat step A and step B."
Or don't swim at all without a lifeguard present, Savage said.
"I can't image what (the Martin) family is going through right now," she said. "But I'm not going to let that happen to my niece and nephew -- if they want to swim this weekend, I'll find a pool."