Water rescue: Emergency services rush to Muriwai Beach

Emergency services and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter have been called to an incident at Muriwai Beach tonight. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Emergency services have rushed to Muriwai Beach tonight after reports of a person getting into difficulty in the water.

A police spokesperson confirmed they were notified of the incident at 7.45pm.

Surf lifesavers were at the scene and already responding.

The Westpac Rescue Helicopter has also been dispatched to the popular West Auckland Beach.

Police said they would release more details when they were available.

The first few weeks of the official summer beach season have seen numerous water rescues.

That includes at Karekare Beach last week.

Northern Region Lifesaving operations manager James Lea told the Herald earlier in the week that last weekend saw higher incident numbers than you would see in peak summer.

"In total, our lifeguards did 52 rescues, assisted six people to safety, performed four major first-aids and searched for eight people – that's really unusual for a weekend in November," he said.

"It was a combination of thousands of people being at the beach because of the hot weather, along with decent swells, warm water temperatures and outgoing tides for most of the day."

Lea said most of those who got into trouble over the weekend were caught out by flash rips.