NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Beach across New York City remained closed Saturday, with weather officials warning of rough surf and dangerous rip currents.
The National Weather Service says beaches could swell 10 feet as Dorian moves out to sea.
Parks Department workers with bullhorns have taken to the beaches to enforce the ban.
“They’re doing their job, but there’s not much they can do,” one surfer told CBS2.
Rogue surfers are taking the opportunity to defy the law and hit the waves. There were dozens of surfers at Rockaway Beach alone on Saturday morning.
“This is what surfing’s all about in New York,” a surfer told 1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria.
Some New Jersey beaches also remained closed Saturday. “Please stay off the beaches,” Gov. Phil Murphy said. “The last thing any of us want is to have to send emergency help into the waters.”
Despite the closed beaches in the five boroughs, it was a picture-perfect surfing scene out in Long Beach on Saturday morning, where dozens were taking part in World Surf League’s New York Longboard Classic. But some surfers have mixed feelings, with dozens dead and a path of destruction from the Bahamas to North Carolina's Outer Banks.
"Surfing the waves off of Hurricane Dorian, every surfer's a little conflicted. It caused a lot of destruction in the Bahamas, so to be on the opposite end of that smiling and celebrating, there's kind of a cloud of guilt," surfer Devon Howard said.
Howard said he thinks the closures are mostly to protect everday swimmers and not professional surfers, who know how to navigate the waves.
"These are professional water people, even if they lose their board, even if they get sucked out to sea, they have the skills to get back to shore," he said.
City beaches haven’t closed citywide since 2016, according to ABC7. The city’s public pools remain open during the closures.
Plans are to have city beaches reopen on Sunday.