The Atlantic City Beach Patrol says that it had a busy weekend with dozens of water rescues, and the crews are preparing for rough surf once again this weekend as Elsa moves up the coast.

“It was a little rough. The waves were pretty big and pretty consistent,” says Nathaniel Hoffmann, of Boyertown, Pennsylvania. “It was cold too. But it felt nice and refreshing.”

Hoffman and his friend AJ Lilly were like many who sought to escape the heat by heading to the Jersey Shore to cool off. Because so many people were at the beach, rescue crews were busy.

“Between Sunday when the weather finally broke and Monday, we had a little under 120 [rescues] - and just those two days, mostly in these uptown districts right here,” says Atlantic City Beach Patrol Chief Steve Downey.

Downey says that Elsa could cause dangerous conditions in the ocean.

“We’re just going to track and track what kind of tide movement we’re looking at. The wave heights, we’re looking at, and most likely we’re going to have to pull some of, if not all, of our equipment off the beaches…so we will probably just rather be safe than sorry,” he says.

With remnants of Elsa expected to hit New Jersey by the end of the week, the beach patrol says that they are urging everyone to pay attention to the ocean conditions and only swim when lifeguards are present.

“I’d say that’s about 80% of our rescues, are people that are not familiar at all with the ocean. Because of the melting pot that we have here in Atlantic City, we get a lot of people from the Midwest and a lot of people actually from out of the country and they’re used to swimming in a lake or a pool and/or turbulent Caribbean waters. It’s just not the same up here,” Downey says.

The storm could move through Thursday and Friday. Dangerous swimming conditions could last through the weekend.

Atlantic City Beach Patrol says it will alert residents and visitors about any beach closures or swimming restrictions through the city's social media pages.