Fort Lauderdale officials warn swimmers of rip currents ahead of busy weekend

Lifeguards with Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue warned locals and visitors planning to head out to the beach this weekend to heed rip current warnings Fort Lauderdale Beach is expecting large crowds over the weekend with several high-profile events taking place Local residents are already expecting a long weekend for lifeguards It will be very crowded this weekend more challenging for lifeguards one beachgoer explained With such large crowds expected Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue bureaucrats stated they are treating the weekend like spring break This is the Super Bowl of lifeguarding pretty much David Ochoa stated As for extra staffing right now we re at spring break levels staffing Thousands of people are expected to take to the beach to watch the Fort Lauderdale Air Show This weekend we have the Fort Lauderdale Air Show Ochoa stated It s a big event our busiest of the whole year Temperatures on the beach have already brought people to relax on the sands The weather s perfect It s excellent nice breeze Eric stated While rip currents have not been as bad on Friday the breeze over the past sparse weeks has caused dangerous rip currents A -year-old boy drowned after going missing off Fort Lauderdale Beach on April We see it on the news all the time that people get caught in the rip currents Eric commented Businesses along the beach are also expecting more customers to pass through the area We did see a big influx in people coming down It definitely helps out all the people around here Hunter Caldwell who works at Fishing Headquarters reported Caldwell stated that if rip currents make it too dangerous to swim visitors can rent a boat to watch the air show from the water We do fishing charters in the exact area where they re flying so you can not only fish for the same price but also see the air show at the same time he revealed