By Christina Santucci
Rockaway Beach was being shut down between Beach 60th and Beach 113th streets on the Peninsula Saturday, the Parks Department said in an email sent at 12:25 p.m.
The agency said the closure was due to on-going construction activity, and advised beach-goers to visit beaches at Beach 9th, 17th, 30th, 59th and 116th through 148th streets instead.
“Because of work being done by the Army Corps of Engineers, the Health and Parks Departments have closed parts of Rockaway Beach today to ensure people’s safety,” the city Health Department wrote in a statement.
However it was unclear if this announcement was specifically geared to swimmers or would be applicable to surfers as well.
“We are informing beach-goers that they must stay out of the water,” Phil Abramson from the Parks Department wrote in an email Saturday afternoon.
Abramson said the 2.7-mile stretch of Rockaway Beach would also be closed Sunday.
“Construction is winding down and we’ll have a better picture of when specific areas will reopen on Monday,” he wrote.
Both swimmers and sufers still packed the sand and the water at 12:45 p.m. as competitors in the annual Rockstock and Barrels surf festival showed off their best moves. The competition was expected to run between noon and 6 p.m. as various heats of surfers tried to score points by doing tricks as they rode the waves.
Organizers said that the event honors the Rockaways’ resiliency after Superstorm Sandy struck in October 2012.
“This year, in particular, celebrates the recovery of a community that stayed together, prayed together and rebuilt together after Superstorm Sandy,” according to Rockstock and Barrels’ website.
