JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry is urging residents to stay away from the beaches after officials had to rescue a woman who was swept into the waves Wednesday during the impacts from Hurricane Dorian.
"Just got a report that someone was just rescued from Jax beach," Curry tweeted. "Stop going in the water. Get off the beach."
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office says a Neptune Beach lifeguard saw a woman standing on the shore when a current came, knocked her down, and pulled her in.
JSO says the lifeguard was able to rescue her.
This rescue comes after a mandatory evacuation order was issued Monday for Zones A and B. The order was for all people living in manufactured homes and low-lying homes as well.
Curry says that he has started to call on beach officials to get people out of the water because of the safety concern.
"These (are) folks in the water at Jax Beach," Curry tweeted. " We have called beach officials to get them out and off. This is dangerous for them and public safety workers."
On Tuesday, tons of people flocked to the beach despite the evacuation order to check out the waves or even to surf. At the Jacksonville Beach lifeguard station, Captain Rob Emahiser said he and his team removed between 200 to 300 people from the beach on Wednesday.
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"It’s slowing down the emergency response for people that are actually in distress," he said. So we urge people to please just stay out of the way and stay off the beach.”
Emahiser says the cities of Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach are not allowing anyone on the beach during the mandatory evacuations. He says it's been hard to enforce in Jacksonville Beach because of all the gawkers who made their way to the pier.
“They’ve been a bit more aggressive and they are not allowing people on the beach at all," he said. "Here, it’s been a little bit more difficult due to the volume of visitors from town and from out of town who claimed to not know that the beach is closed or they simply are unwilling to follow the instructions from emergency personnel."
Emahiser says there have not been any water rescues along Jacksonville Beach Wednesday.