Tiscornia Beach, near Discovery Park in Sacramento, is located right where the Sacramento and American rivers meet. On a hot day, people wad through the waist deep water to cool down.
It doesn't look dangerous.
But, 30 feet from the shore, the river bed drops off – an underwater ledge.
"It's very easy to step into a hole with the currents swirling the way they are and pull you under water -- and keep you under water," Sacramento Fire Department spokesperson Chris Harvey said.
At the rivers' junction, the currents flow together like a whirlpool.
Over the past few years, many people have lost their lives because of the strong current. At the beach, life jackets are provided for free in an effort to curb drownings – there is no lifeguard on duty.
Sacramento DART has been busy during the past few weeks pulling bodies out of the water near the beach. The team advised if you get caught in the current, go with it -- don't fight to swim back to where you came from, but instead, you should lie on your back and float, using your arms to steer.
"You can be an excellent swimmer and you get caught in a current and don't know what to do," DART member Bob Erickson said. "You can't force yourself to swim the way you want to go, 'I want to go to that tree and that beach,' and you're not going to go, it's too strong. You're never going to win over the water."
A group seen at Tiscornia Beach was wading in the water with only one person wearing a lifejacket. They were from out of town, but even after being told about the current, they weren't worried about the dangers.
"I'm not concerned about it at all," Andrea Miller said. "We're from Vegas; so, they grew up in Lake Mead. They're fine."
