Hurricane Gaston Creating Dangerous Rip Currents on Long Island

UPDATE: The high rip current risk has been extended until 8 p.m. Wednesday.

A high rip current risk is in effect for all South Shore ocean beaches on Long Island until 8 p.m Tuesday as a hurricane more than a thousand miles away is creating treacherous conditions in the water, the National Weather Service says.

A 26-year-old Brooklyn man drowned at a beach in Long Beach on Monday. Long Beach officials have closed that beach to swimmers on Tuesday "due to extreme rip currents" that the NWS says are being caused by Hurricane Gaston, which was 695 miles east of Bermuda as of 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Other beaches across Long Island remain open to swimmers, but a high rip current risk means the surf is dangerous for all levels of swimmers, according to the NWS.

Find tips on how to escape a rip current here.

Photo: NWS