OCEAN CITY, N.J. -- -- If you are planning on going to Ocean City this weekend to enjoy the sea breezes, you may want to avoid actually getting into the water.

City health officials said raw sewage leaked into a part of the bay through a storm drain.

Some residents and tourists say the county Health Department of not doing enough to make the public aware of the problem.

The sewage leaked into the 17th Street Bay in Ocean City. Swimming is not allowed between 16th and 18th streets.

Cape May County health officials went door-to-door with a letter warning people not to swim in the area because of dangerously high fecal coliform bacteria levels. But some people said they didn't find out it was unsafe until it was too late.

"Eva was playing in a little rubber tube that you swim in. She was sucking on it," said Denise Cordes, of West Chester, Pa.

Little Eva's play time came to a quick end Thursday morning when a neighbor told Cordes that raw sewage had spilled into the bay behind her summer home. Prior to getting the alarming news, Cordes and her family, including her 9-month-old granddaughter, had been splashing around in the water.

"I had that baby in that bath in three seconds, washing her down. I was terrified that, you know, she had consumed it, and it was on her skin," Cordes remembered.

Officials said that 30 to 50 gallons of human waste spilled into the bay after a nearby sewer line became clogged. The backup caused sewage to leak from a manhole cover and then run into a storm drain, which, in turn, emptied into the bay.

"There was a clog-up of grease within the pipe, and it made the sewage overflow and back up," said Lendel Jones, of the New Jersey-American Water Co.

"There's high elevated levels of fecal coliform," said Kevin Thomas, of the Cape May County Health Dept.

Health officials said that testing on water taken from six locations in the area of the spill showed those levels to be eight times higher than what's considered safe.

Although the affected back bay lagoons are not designated swimming areas, the health department said that it posted signs warning people not to go into the water immediately after learning of the incident.

Cordes believes that the county's efforts were inadequate. "Proper notice had not been given. No one saw these little signs," Cordes complained.

Thomas defended the county's action. "We were on top of it. We did what we had to do," Thomas said.

The health department said it would continue testing the water throughout the weekend.