drama on the waterfront
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
Toronto, 2018.08.10
This afternoon I noticed a lot of sirens, and the presence on a number of helicopters. It turned out that a mother and child got into trouble while swimming around the rocks at the end of Woodbine beach. There's a strong littoral current off the shore, which sets up an "under tow". Five people jumped into the water to try to help the mother and child, and two of the five themselves got into trouble. One, a sixteen year old, was taken by the current and drowned.
What a tragedy! This is at least the third time I've heard of a drowning along the local strip of shoreline in the time we've been here.