Bull Shark ‘Swarm’ Shuts Beach During 4th of July Weekend Heatwave

A swarm of aggressive bull sharks forced officials to shut down New York City’s Rockaway Beach on Thursday, leaving frustrated swimmers stranded on the sand as the city baked under a brutal Fourth of July weekend heat wave.

Multiple shark sightings were reported along the popular Queens coastline, prompting lifeguards to raise red flags and close the entire beach to swimming around 11 a.m., according to the New York City Parks Department.

The predators did not appear to be passing through quickly.

Officials said sharks continued to surface in the waves for hours, with at least one group sighting reported every hour after the first fin was spotted.

The shutdown came at the worst possible time for thousands of beachgoers hoping to cool off as “real feel” temperatures climbed to a scorching 105 degrees during the hottest part of the afternoon.

Instead of being allowed into the water, visitors were forced to watch from shore as lifeguards and Parks Department staff used drones to scan the ocean and determine when swimming could safely resume.

The sightings immediately revived memories of the terrifying August 2023 shark attack at Rockaway Beach, where a woman was seriously injured while swimming near Beach 59th Street.

Experts said a bull shark may have been responsible for that attack, although a thresher shark or great white could not be ruled out.

Bull sharks are considered especially dangerous because they are aggressive, powerful and capable of swimming in shallow coastal waters where people are more likely to be present.

Under Parks Department rules, a single shark sighting triggers a one-hour closure covering one mile in each direction. Multiple sightings require the entire beach to be shut down, with an additional hour added for every new sighting.

That protocol kept the water off-limits as the sharks continued to appear throughout the day.

The Rockaway scare came just hours after a massive 9-foot shark was spotted near Point Lookout, roughly 15 miles east of the Queens beach.

Shark sightings traditionally increase along the coastline from the Rockaways to Montauk around the Fourth of July, when warmer waters attract both the cold-blooded predators and the fish they hunt.

For New Yorkers looking to escape the dangerous heat, however, the timing could not have been worse.

With the ocean closed and temperatures soaring, beachgoers were left facing a miserable choice: bake on the sand or head home while the sharks enjoyed the waves.