CLEVELAND -- Search and recovery efforts have been suspended for three people that have been missing since Sunday in Lake Erie, Cleveland Metroparks Police Chief Kelly Stillman announced during a briefing on Monday afternoon.
According to Stillman, the U.S. Coast Guard and Bay Village police responded to Huntington Beach just after 5:30 p.m. Sunday after two men went missing in the lake. 3News has learned the men, a 19-year-old and a 22-year-old, are brothers from the Portage Lakes area.
Then, just before 7:30 p.m., a 60-year-old man became lost in the water at Edgewater Park after he "somehow some way left the pier," Stillman said.
"We still don't know exactly what transpired or what caused him to enter the water," the police chief explained. "Cleveland fire boat was shortly on scene, was able to actually see the male underneath the water and at the surface, but due to the lake conditions they were not able to get close enough to effect a rescue."
The National Weather Service had issued a Small Craft Advisory and Beach Hazards Statement for Sunday into Monday evening, warning that high winds behind a cold front would lead to elevated wave heights and a high risk of rip currents.
"The lake conditions, as you see now, are horrific," Stillman said. "They were worse last night than what they are today. It should be known that a beach hazard warning was sent out. The lake was not favorable for swimming. Anybody that goes in in those conditions obviously is putting themselves at risk."
The police chief said search efforts would resume early Tuesday morning.
"We had multiple units from multiple jurisdictions engaged in this effort. Every resource available was called into action," Stillman said. "We did it from the air. We did it on land. We did it in sea. And still we will continue and hopefully be able to bring closure to these families and get them back to their loved ones."
Stillman said the swimming areas around the Metroparks have not been staffed with lifeguards since the second week of August.
"Any body of water such as this, it's you swim at your own risk," Stillman said. "Those college students go back to school and then therefore we don't have any more lifeguards available so the signs are readily available. ... Be very, very cautious."
Capt. Ken Schabitzer, Cleveland Metroparks Police's dive team coordinator, said wave action limited search efforts Monday morning. Officials deployed divers, rescue swimmers, drones, helicopters, line searches and multiple boats in the water.
"We did have a little bit more success today diving," Schabitzer said. "We checked a couple of areas along piers that we wanted to, but again because of the wave action we were only able to check the west side. The east side was being hit by waves."
Conditions on Tuesday morning look more favorable, he said, which would allow for more divers and sonar -- which police had previously been prevented from deploying due to the waves.
Schabitzer said the lake conditions were made dangerous due to "a combination of both the waves pushing you as well as the undercurrents pulling you."
"Our line search, so we had 14 men and women lined up locked arm in arm, going east to west. And they still felt themselves, even locked arm to arm, getting pulled north further into the lake," he said. "So that's the best example I can get of how strong the rip currents were last night and today as well."
You can watch the full Cleveland Metroparks Police press conference below: