Hurricane Bill's Waves Sweep Spectators Out to Sea

EDGARTOWN, Mass. (Aug. 23) — A rogue wave from Hurricane Bill swept spectators out to sea at a Maine park Sunday as the storm-churned surf attracted onlookers and daredevils along the Eastern Seaboard.
Rescue crews were searching for people believed to be lost in the waves near Acadia National Park as a man, a woman and a 7-year-old girl were pulled from the sea, Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Shane Coxon.
The three were part of an early afternoon crowd that had gathered on some rocks at the park's Thunder Hole, a popular tourist attraction where waves often crash into a crevasse and make a thundering sound while splashing high in the air.
"This is absolutely the effects of Hurricane Bill" coupled with the effect of high tide, park ranger Sonya Berger said.
The girl was unresponsive when she was rescued, the woman appeared to have a broken leg and the man had a previous heart condition that appeared to be acting up, Coxon said. Other people are believed to still be lost in the waves but Coxon did not know how many. The waves were running 10 to 12 feet high with 25-knot winds along the coast, he said.
Bill was also blamed for the death of a 54-year-old swimmer who was killed Saturday in Florida. Volusia County Beach Patrol Capt. Scott Petersohn said Angel Rosa of Orlando was unconscious when he washed ashore in rough waves fueled by Bill at New Smyrna Beach along the central Florida coast. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Lifeguards there also rescued a handful of other swimmers believed to have suffered spinal injuries.
The center of the hurricane was about 400 miles west-southwest of Newfoundland late Sunday afternoon, according to the National Hurricane Center. Its maximum sustained winds had dropped to 75 mph, and it was moving northeast at 35 mph. The storm is expected to continue to weaken as it moves over cooler waters.
The storm drew onlookers hoping to catch a glimpse of crashing waves as it marched through Atlantic Canada.
Despite repeated warnings, people gathered in Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, and along the boardwalk in downtown Halifax as swells grew steadily in strength and size.
"So far, it's pretty wild," said Heather Wright, who was walking along the Halifax harbor.
"We're not going right to the edges or nothing. And we're here mainly to sightsee a bit and go back home and ride it out."
The National Hurricane Center had lifted the tropical storm warning for the Massachusetts coastline, including Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket early Sunday morning, and President Barack Obama and his family arrived on Cape Cod on Sunday afternoon for vacation after the storm had passed well to the east.
Several people also had to be rescued from the water in Massachusetts, including a couple of kayakers who got stranded in the heavy seas off Plymouth, said Peter Judge, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.
He said strong rip tides and beach erosion were the biggest concerns Sunday.
"Our biggest thing right now is just the rough surf," he said.
Dozens of people showed up at South Beach on Martha's Vineyard with their cameras and camcorders to watch the big waves and churning Atlantic.
Tony Dorsey of Gofftown, N.H., has a camp on the Vineyard. He said the waves came up to the top of the dunes at South Beach during high tide, and included "good-size rollers.
"It overwhelmed the beach," he said. "It reformed the beach. It's not destroyed a lot, but it's going to reshape the beach."
The storm delayed or halted ferry services from New York to Maine, and kept many beaches closed.
In Montauk, N.Y., swimmers weren't allowed in the water, but surfers were out riding the waves. State parks spokesman George Gorman said almost 2,000 surfers showed up at Montauk on Sunday — the most ever counted there. They enjoyed waves that reached as high as 16 feet.
Some areas that had prepared for the worst saw nothing. Libby Russ, who owns the Three Belles Marina in Niantic, Conn., said a few swimming floats were hauled in from Long Island Sound on Saturday, but that was the extent of the excitement.
"We didn't have a stitch of breeze," said Libby.ht tp://news.aol.com/article/hurricane-bill/634859?icid=main|main|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fhurricane-bill%2F634859

Acadia Park .. thunder hole? We were just there two weeks ago.
Thunder hole was just going 'glub glub' and was mild compared to when I saw it as a kid. This morning we were all saying that thunder hole should be sounding really loud today due to Hurricane Bill. Guess others thought the same and that's why they were there.

well this does thin the herd, so to speak. what dumb@ss would be so close, especially with a child...are brains that hard to find and use??? if there was a tourist boat available to go out into the storm itself, they would have probably signed up...geez..(shakes head)

i agree with bill maher on HBO..."there are just alot of stupid people here"

[edit on 23-8-2009 by jimmyx]

reply to post by joe82

What the heck were these people thinking ?

How about -

Goody, goody !! An unusually powerful northern hurricane is right off the coast -- let's all go down to the beach and watch the waves !!

Conclusion ?

Obviously these people have been taking all their flu shots every year, and they also are drinking plenty of their great flouridated tap-water !