Hampton Beach lifeguards save 144 in one week: What to know about flash rip currents
Max Sullivan, Portsmouth Herald/ Seacoast Online Aug 15, 2025
HAMPTON — Hampton Beach lifeguards rushed into the water to make 144 rescues in the last week in response to a sudden flurry of flash rip currents.
The summer had been slow up until two weeks ago, at which point only 51 rescues had been made, Hampton Beach Lifeguard Chief Patrick Murphy said. That has changed in the wake of Tropical Storm Dexter, which Murphy believes may have sent waves to the coast after 24 months of calm, flat water.
A Hampton Beach lifeguard keeps watch over swimmers and beachgoers on a warm August afternoon at Hampton Beach. A rip current is a strong, narrow channel of fast-moving water that flows directly away from the shore. The current is formed as water coming into shore is redirected out to sea.
“We had consistent 3-5 foot surf for basically the entire week,” Murphy said. “When it comes in, it needs to go back out.”
Rip currents are common at beaches, including in Hampton. Murphy said lifeguards typically know where to look for them after following patterns in the ocean.
In the last two summers, Murphy said calm waters may have allowed sand underneath to smooth out, allowing new locations for currents to form. He said lifeguards are not oceanographers, but they have observed the sand flattened out at low tide.
“At low tide, the beach looks all the same from Boar’s Head to Haverhill Avenue,” Murphy said. “It’s all flat. Normally, you get the bumps of the sand deposit.”
Murphy believes this has contributed to the potential for flash rip currents occurring in new locations along the beach, unlike fixed rip currents that occur in the same location over time. He said guards have seen many instances in which beachgoers are standing in knee to chest deep water and suddenly notice a flash rip current appear nearby.
Sand kicking up from the water is a clue as to where the flash rip currents occur, as the strength of the current digs into the sand below. “You can see it kick up, it makes a brownish color,” Murphy said while on the beach. He noticed one as he spoke. “I can see it in the area where it just happened,” Murphy said.
How to stay safe in a flash rip current
Spotting color changes in the ocean isn’t the most reliable way for beachgoers to detect rip currents, Murphy said, since most people may not recognize what they’re seeing. Recently, he said, seaweed has created the illusion of sand in flash rip currents, making them even harder to identify.
Instead, Murphy urges beachgoers to enter the water only near a lifeguard, where they’re visible and can be quickly assisted if needed. If caught in a rip current — whether fixed or flash — swimmers should move sideways, not toward shore. Rip currents flow powerfully between sandbars, and fighting against them can lead to exhaustion. By swimming parallel to the beach, a person can reach a sandbar, stand safely, and return to shore outside the current’s pull.
The impending hurricane season is expected to bring more surf to the East Coast. Jon Palmer, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine, said Hurricane Erin is projected to move around Bermuda and move offshore, sending waves to the Gulf of Maine.
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