'Quicksand' At Milford Beach Leads To Terrifying Incident

MILFORD, CT — A truly frightening incident occurred at Walnut Beach in Milford on Thursday afternoon.

Sharon Rutledge and her friend were walking on a part of the beach around 3:30 p.m. when all of a sudden they began to sink. They stepped on a part of the sand that "looked wet" and within a few seconds Rutledge's friend quickly sunk to her mid-chest while Rutledge sunk to her hips.

"Somehow we both managed to pull ourselves out by clawing at the sand," Rutledge said in a social media post. "It was exactly like quicksand. I have reported the issue to (Milford Police) but my greatest fear is a child would surely be over their head in a matter of seconds as would a dog. PLEASE if you see sand that simply looks wet, DO NOT go near it."

And she learned that "this phenomenon it is an issue after a large snowfall that melts quickly, the snow melts and the water stays right below the sand surface. I’m just thankful we were ok and I don’t want anyone else to go through this!!!"

Rutledge said city officials are currently working to address the issue and have been very quick in responding to the safety situation.

Milford native and current NBC Connecticut anchor Heidi Voight shared the story and said on social media, "A shoreline warning: "Quicksand" is real! This happened to my friend Sharon in Milford yesterday at Walnut Beach. She wasn't even at the water's edge, she was up near the boardwalk when this happened. Be aware!"