Worry remains at North Topsail Beach inlet after recent rescue
NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH, NC (WWAY) — As North Topsail Beach prepares for a busy Fourth of July weekend, town officials are urging visitors to stay out of the New River Inlet after another dangerous water rescue highlighted the hazards of the area.
Warning signs posted at the inlet advise people not to swim because of strong currents and rapidly changing underwater conditions. However, some residents say those warnings are not enough to keep people out of the water.
Barbara Decker, who frequently visits the inlet with her husband, witnessed Friday’s rescue of a 30-year-old woman who was swept away by the current.
“She got out and couldn’t get back and the family said she was just out there and then all of sudden they couldn’t see her nowhere,” Decker said.
The woman was rescued within about 15 minutes.
Decker said many visitors walk onto the sandbar during low tide without realizing there is a steep 20- to 30-foot drop-off nearby.
“I’ve been coming here for four years, and I decided I would just do it one day and I went during low tide but the minute I stepped in the water it was like the current was so horrible it was taking the sand right out from underneath my feet, it was hard to stand up,” she said.
The rescue came just weeks after 24-year-old Marquest Andrew Page Jr. drowned while attempting to save a child in the same area.
Town officials said they have no comment on Friday’s rescue but continue to urge visitors not to swim in the inlet, emphasizing that it is a navigation channel for boats, not a designated swimming area.
North Topsail Beach resident Curtis Anders believes the town should expand its public safety messaging.
“The bigger thing most people say is, ‘let’s put a gigantic billboard, like on Highway 40, where as you go in, that has danger, channel, swift currents, we have had deaths,'” Anders said.
He acknowledged that additional warnings may not stop everyone from entering the water but said officials should do everything possible to prevent future tragedies.
“But you know some people still aren’t going to read it. But you’ve got to do everything you can to try to stop this from happening, these are lives,” Anders said.
With large crowds expected over the holiday weekend, Police Chief Andrew Page and Fire Chief Chad Soward said staffing will be increased to respond to emergencies.
“Obviously we are gonna have a lot of people out here on the highways, on the beaches and most of them are probably not going to be from the area and there will be a lot of unfamiliarity with the ocean and what dangers it holds,” Page said.
Officials continue to urge anyone looking to swim to use the oceanfront beach instead of entering the inlet.
“The inlet is not a swim area, it’s a fishing area, we do not encourage people to get in and swim, if you would like to do that go to our beach side,” Soward said.
