A young girl was swept into the surf by an apparent sneaker wave at Cannon Beach over the weekend, and her parents pulled her out safely, leaving her looking, in the words of one witness, like a rag doll caught in the whitewash. Everyone involved appeared to walk away unharmed, but the moment was close enough and dramatic enough that it was captured on video by a visitor standing nearby.
That visitor, Karin Kelsey Madsen, was on the beach with her husband when the wave struck, according to KATU. Madsen and her husband saw the child get swept into the water, and she recorded the incident on video as it unfolded. “Then I realized there was a child and swooped up this child, who looked like a rag doll. And so it just took my breath away,” Madsen said, describing the moment she understood what she was watching. She believed the girl's parents were the ones who rushed in and pulled her from the water.
Madsen's husband ran toward the scene to see whether the family needed help, she said, though the parents had already gotten their daughter out of the water by the time he reached them. Madsen said families, other people, and young children had been playing in the water that day, and she was shocked by how many people ignored officials' warnings to stay out of the surf. She also described watching the ocean move large logs as the tide rolled in earlier that day: “That whole day, we watched big logs being moved as the tide was coming in,” she said.
Officials Warn the Danger Can Strike Without Notice
A spokesperson for Cannon Fire said sneaker waves can happen in an instant, underscoring why officials urge beachgoers never to turn their backs on the ocean. The Cannon Beach Fire District echoes that warning in its public safety guidance, noting that sneaker waves are unpredictable and appear suddenly, with enough force to knock a person down and drag them out to sea. The district's guidance also tells visitors not to turn their backs to the ocean.
Officials additionally urge people to stay off rocks and jetties and to check the weather or talk with lifeguards before heading near the water. The district notes it has provided lifeguard coverage for the city's main beach areas since an agreement with the City of Cannon Beach took effect in February 2024, with lifeguards on duty daily from 11 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and on weekends only from April through September depending on weather and staffing. Separately, the City of Cannon Beach advises visitors to stay off rocks and small, enclosed beaches, to know when the tide is coming in by checking a tide table, and to always walk where there is an escape route to higher ground.
A Rough Weekend for Oregon's Coast
The warnings came as the coast was already under heightened alert. The National Weather Service had issued a beach hazards statement warning of possible sneaker waves starting Friday and lasting through Sunday, the station reported. Forecasters expected Sunday waves of 15 to 20 feet to create steep and hazardous seas, with a chance conditions could exceed 20 feet, and a High Surf Warning covering the Oregon and Washington coasts was reported in effect until 10 p.m. with breakers forecast up to 28 feet.
The National Weather Service's broader safety guidance tells anyone visiting beaches in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington to study wave patterns and never stop watching and listening to the ocean, since conditions can change suddenly. Similar close calls have played out elsewhere on the Oregon coast: KOIN reported video showing sneaker waves crashing into beachgoers at Barview on a Sunday morning, with eyewitnesses saying people were injured and taken to the hospital. At Cannon Beach itself, a woman nearly was swept out to sea by a King Tide near the Gower Street ramp in November 2024, according to KPTV, though she managed to make it out of the surf.
A rip-current rescue south of Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach last July involved five people who were treated for mild hypothermia; none required transport and all were released at the scene, per the Seaside Signal. The hazard isn't confined to Oregon, either. Earlier this year, a sneaker wave pulled a mother and her young daughter into the ocean at San Francisco's Baker Beach, with the pair rescued before firefighters arrived and taken to a hospital in serious condition, according to ABC7 News. In a separate June incident at the same beach, a Sacramento mother and her 7-year-old daughter were swept into the water, and bystanders helped pull them out before paramedics and fire crews arrived.
