HURON, Ohio — About a dozen family members spent the day walking up and down Nickel Plate Beach as searchers continued a recovery mission. They're searching for 29-year-old Brittany Young who went missing Sunday while swimming at the beach.
Teresa Young is Brittany's mother-in-law. She spent the day Monday crying at her home over Brittany going missing in the water. Now, she's calling for changes at the beach.
"The box with the life preserver is clearly way far away for the beach," said Teresa. "They charge to get in the parking lot, but they don’t have a lifeguard. So, what we'd like to do is make sure there’s some change. There’s been a lot of deaths here."
An 18-year-old drowned at the beach on July 7 as he attempted to rescue other swimmers. Sunday's incident happened with other swimmers around, including Young's husband. He described what sounds like rip current conditions.
Rip currents are narrow channels of water that start near the beach and pull water away from the shore through breaking waves. They have the potential to take you with them.
The best way to get out of them is to swim parallel to the shoreline. If you can get out of the current, try to tread water and yell for help immediately.
Teresa says she would also like to see additional safeguards in place aside from warning signs.
"A flag system like they have when you swim in the ocean," is one suggestion Teresa mentioned. "You know the red, yellow, green flag would be helpful to make people aware of when it’s safe and when it’s unsafe to swim."
She took her concerns to city council at a Tuesday evening meeting and so did Young's sister. She believes better steps after the first incident could've prevented this latest tragedy.
"Had they kept the beach closed until then it's possible I'd still have my sister here today," says Kate Homolya.
"I do think that my family will sleep better tonight knowing that until there are safer precautions put in place, to make sure that this does not happen to another family."
One-by-one community members also voiced their concerns at the meeting.
The family is hoping searchers find Brittany's body so that they can get some closure in this tragic situation.
Teresa said, "hopefully they find her soon so they can lay her to rest."
Watch Tiffany Tarpley's report from Channel 3 News at 11 in the player below:
Huron city officials restricted access to Nickel Plate Beach on Monday until further notice. City Manager Andy White gave the following statement to WKYC:
Due to the most recent incident at Nickel Plate Beach, access to the park has been restricted until further notice. There is no attendant present to collect fees and the entrance has been barricaded.
Staff recently transitioned to a daily monitoring of wind and weather forecasts. Sunday morning the park was opened up as the conditions were calm but by the afternoon winds picked up and created dangerous wave action. The city will be pulling together several options, including, but not limited to, more signage, infrastructure modification, prohibiting swimming or the closure of the beach permanently. There is no immediate solution and access will not be restored until there is a more defined plan to ensure safety for all patrons to the park.