Surfers face ;chaotic; waves and storm surge in hurricane season
00:00 00:07 As Hurricane Irma raged in the Caribbean at the peak of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, rising professional surfer Zander Venezia, a teenager, died in a sudden drowning while trying to ride mega-swell waves in Barbados. It was neither the first nor the last time a surfer’s attempt to venture out during a storm surge ended in tragedy. “It’s really common when we’re in September and having those hurricane conditions to have a very unexpected storm surge,” said Corey Senese, a lifelong surfer who founded and gives lessons at CoreysWave, a surfing school in Montauk, New York. “We do have a few terrible, tragic stories involving storm surges,” Senese told CBS News. “It’s really dangerous because you’re not expecting it.” Senese noted that surfers, swimmers and beachgoers alike contend with potentially perilous circumstances year-round, like sneaker waves, rogue waves, undertow and rip currents, which can be deadly. A surfer takes on 5- to 7-foot swells comi...