City Beaches Closed For Swimming On Sunday As Hermine Approaches - Warning To Surfers

City-Wide

By Geoffrey Croft

With winds potentially reaching 40 to 50 mph and "extremely dangerous" ripe tides expected from Tropical Storm Hermine Mayor de Blasio announced today that city beaches will be closed for swimming on Sunday and possibly for several days after.

“We will be closing our city beaches on Sunday meaning that people can go on the beach but not in the water,"  the Mayor said.   "Our beaches will be closed for swimming on Sunday.”

“Do not go into the water it will be very dangerous, it will be unusually dangerous,” the Mayor warned. 

“We will likely be closing our beaches for swimming on Monday and Tuesday as well but we will make those announcements as we get closer and see how the storm develops.”

If you go in the water you are putting your life in danger. 

The Mayor also had a message for swimmers and surfers.

"Don’t even think about it, it's going to be unusually dangerous."

The Mayor said the Police and Parks Department will patrolling beaches and "aggressively" telling people not to go in the water.

The Mayor stopped short of saying the city was going to force people not to go in when asked.

"We have not yet gotten to the question of whether we would be forcibly stop someone from going in there." he said.

"I think the Police Department and the Parks Department folks are very good at getting their point across and I think anyone who talks to one of them will get the message that they just shouldn’t go in and people will listen to law enforcement personnel, ” de Blasio said. 

The city extended the beach and pool season by a week and will remain open through Sunday, September 11.