Erin Dickson, at the parking booth at Scarborough State Beach in Narragansett, tells visitors that the beach was closed yesterday as a precaution against water contamination.

The Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo

NARRAGANSETT –– From Westerly to Narragansett, strong swells and rip currents, leftovers from Hurricane Bertha and Tropical Storm Cristobal, continued to wreak havoc yesterday at area beaches.

Turbulent weather also prompted state health officials to close several popular beaches –– including Scarborough State Beach in Narragansett and Easton’s Beach in Newport –– as a precaution against water contamination.

Bacteria levels at Scarborough and Easton’s soar when they get an inch or more of rain, said Ernest Julian, chief of the Health Department’s Office of Food Protection, which monitors pollution levels at all beaches throughout the state. Heavy rain forces more water into storm drains than sewage-treatment plants can handle, pushing untreated wastewater into the environment.

Both Scarborough and Easton’s typically clear within 24 hours.

(For an updated list of beach closings, check the Health Department’s Web site, www.health.ri.gov, or call the beach hotline at 401-222-2751).

Yesterday, on the first “beach day” since several waves of severe thunderstorms and a tornado lashed the region –– leaving a trail of downed trees and power lines, and significant property damage –– red flags and “restricted swimming area” signs reminded beach-goers that the disruption was not yet over.

Around 11 a.m., in one of many incidents that would repeat throughout the day at Misquamicut State Beach and other beaches, two young swimmers on boogie boards were sucked into a rip current.

A lifeguard swam out to them, “but they were so far out that we had to use a line to pull them in,” said Andrew Girard, the lifeguard supervisor at Misquamicut.

Some beach-goers jumped up, grabbed the rope, and helped haul in the swimmers.

“You can’t fight Mother Nature,” said Misquamicut lifeguard Leah Del Giudice, bearing a red rope burn on her right shoulder from pulling ashore swimmers with a yellow lifeline.

Del Giudice and nine other lifeguards spent much of their morning yesterday blowing whistles, motioning for swimmers to return to shore –– and hauling in those who couldn’t.

No one was seriously hurt, but lifeguards said the combination of high waves and strong currents forced them to restrict swimming to certain areas and depths.

“Usually, the waves break down the rip tides,” Del Giudice said yesterday morning. “But today, because the waves are so huge, you get these really wide rip tides that are very powerful, so everything in them gets sucked out.

“That’s why we are not letting anyone out past waist-deep.”

Lifeguards updated the restrictions throughout the day as conditions changed.

By late afternoon, the limit was knee-deep.

Such rough conditions take a toll on lifeguards.

At Misquamicut, lifeguards have performed some 200 rescues since June 30, Girard said.

At Narragansett Town Beach, there have been about 175 rescues –– 120 in the last two weeks, said Dave Cannon, the waterfront manager.

“We’re breaking records,” he said.

The pace is so brutal that beach managers recommend that lifeguards take a few days off to recover. As a result, only 10 lifeguards were on active duty yesterday at Misquamicut, a few less than normal, Girard said.

Rip currents are powerful currents of water moving away from shore, typically during periods of heavy surf. They can form instantly and drag even strong swimmers far from shore.

Close to shore, swimmers feel as if a rug has been pulled from under their feet. Farther out, it could feel like a vacuum is sucking them out to sea.

If caught in a rip current, experts recommend staying calm.

“Never try to fight it. Never swim against the current,” said Cannon.

Instead, Cannon said, relax and swim parallel to the shore for about 25 yards, beyond the pull of the current, and then head toward shore.

(For more information on rip currents and what to do, visit www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov).

The strong currents and big waves have brought a surge of surf-related injuries to area hospitals, including a broken neck, collar bone and dislocated shoulders and hips.

“Waves are taking people by surprise,” said Brian Jordan, a spokesman for Westerly Hospital. “Some are injuries from using a boogie board; some are caught in the undertow –– bizarre injuries.”

Patients have been coming in with spinal and neck injuries, Jordan said, some so severe that the patients had to be airlifted to either Hartford or Yale-New Haven hospitals.

Matthew Belk, meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Taunton, Mass., said there’s a low risk of rip currents at beaches in Washington County, Newport and Block Island this weekend. Swimmers should be careful at all times and check with lifeguards about dangerous areas.

lsparks@projo.com