Exclusive: Josephine de Moura speaks out about "Alexandra's Law," named after her daughter who died in a rip current
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. - A gifted Long Island athlete got caught in a rip current, tried to fight it, panicked and was swept away.
In a story you will only see on CBS2, Jennifer McLogan speaks with the student-athlete's mother, who is now on an emotional mission to educate others about the dangers of rip currents.
"My daughter did not know how to get out of a rip current," said Josephine de Moura.
Her daughter Alexandra was a star athlete at Garden City High School, a nationally recognized gymnast, and student leader at George Washington University, drowned in a rip current in Mexico.
"We're suffering. It will be three years in August, and we are still so devastated. And we will be the rest of our lives, but we are trying to find meaning in all of this," de Moura said.
She is on a mission to educate. Her daughter was merely standing in waist-high ocean water and was sucked out to sea.
"She was standing, talking to friends, and the current just pulled her under. She tried to fight this current, and you can not fight it," de Moura said.
Two days later, Alexandra's body was recovered.
De Moura is collaborating on educating kids with the American Red Cross and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, with classes beginning in Garden City.
In an educational video, they give the following instructions: "You want to float. You don't want to swim back to shore against the rip current, you want to swim out of the rip, parallel to shore along the beach, and then follow breaking waves back to shore at an angle."
De Moura's fight got the attention of Nassau County Legislator Joshua Lafazan.
"I'm filing a bill called 'Alexandra's Law' in honor of Alexandra's incredible memory and her legacy," Lafazan said.
Besides county-wide classroom education, the bill would require rip current danger signs, and flags on beaches.
"There needs to be conspicuous signage, conspicuous flags. People need to be warned," said Lafazan.
The International Lifesaving Federation says rip currents represent the major cause of fatalities and rescues at surf beaches around the world.
"My goal is to spread the education throughout the entire island, because as you know we are surrounded by water," de Moura said.
More than 100 people a year die in rip currents in this country.
"This is what she would want us to do, and that's why I'm doing it," de Moura said.
Alexandra's Law could be ready for a vote next month.
Teaching students how to recognize and react to rip currents, rip tides, and undertows would all be a part of Alexandra's Law.
