Beachgoers on Lake Michigan have been warned about serious swimming hazards this week after three people pulled from the lake’s waters died.
Messages, warning signs and information have been posted for beaches where wind, rip currents and high waves could take place.
“There’s going to be high waves and strong winds and the possibility of strong currents and that it may be dangerous to venture into the water at the beach,” Mike Bardou, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Chicago told ABC News. “Swimming condition at the beaches are in kind of a dangerous category, so there is definitely concern.”
The warnings are in effect for portions of the Illinois and Wisconsin shorelines until 1 a.m. CDT tonight, according to Eric Lenning, science and operations officer for the National Weather Service office in Chicago. Additional beach hazard warnings are expected to be necessary Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday for beaches around southern Lake Michigan, as well.
Three boys, ages 10 to 14, died this weekend after being pulled from Lake Michigan in three separate incidents near the Indiana Dunes State Park and the Waukegan Municipal Beach, ABC station WLS in Chicago reported.
On Saturday evening, 10-year-old Joshua Torres of Chicago and 14-year-old Malik Freeman of Aurora were pulled from the water within an hour of each other, after they went swimming in restricted areas at Indiana Dunes State Park beach, according to WLS. On Friday, a 14-year-old boy who was rescued from the water near Waukegan died at a local hospital.
Swimming conditions are considered unsafe for people in Chicago and Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana both today and tomorrow, Bardou said.
“The threat for higher winds and larger waves, and dangerous swimming and beach conditions, is going to be all across the Illinois and Indiana beaches, certainly tonight and all the way through tomorrow night,” Bardou said.
