Hurricane Florence bringing big waves to Central Florida beaches

While Hurricane Florence is expected to make landfall in the Carolinas, it is still bringing big waves to Central Florida beaches.

Beach visitor Sally Ciriaco says she was planning on going in the water, but when she saw sets of six-foot-tall swells rolling through the ocean, she decided the surf was unsafe. The waves are being churned up by Hurricane Florence, which is more than 500 miles away. 

As a result, the National Weather Service is warning of hazardous surf and extreme risk for life-threatening rip currents for most of Florida's east coast. In Cocoa Beach, low tide revealed this newly cut rip current channel in the sand, which lifeguards say the hurricane surf was creating in high numbers along the coast during higher than usual tides.

Experienced surfers from across the state have flocked to the coast to ride the unusually high and powerful waves. One of them told Fox 35 that "I'd give it a ten. It was awesome." 

Be sure to keep up with the latest on the 2018 Hurricane Season HERE. And you can download your Hurricane Guide in English HERE or in Spanish HERE.