Residents of the 2800 and 2900 blocks of Simpson and Haven avenues are cleaning up Monday morning after a quick burst of winds that “sounded like a freight train” left debris scattered across their properties on Sunday night.
The wind sent roof shingles flying, crushed outside shower stalls, blocked an alley by moving a stored floating dock, and tore the roof off a garage.
Just a few blocks in either direction: No signs of damage and no reports from neighbors of any unusual weather.
The National Weather Service had issued a wind advisory that warned of gusts up to 50 mph as a cold front clashed with exceptionally warm January weather.
Meteorologist Anthony Gigi said early Monday morning that the National Weather Service recorded no unusual events on Sunday night and had received no reports of the Ocean City winds. He said the NWS saw wind gusts of 50 mph at Cape May Harbor, 49 mph in Sea Isle City, 54 mph in Woodbine and only 38 mph in Ocean City (at the “south beach” anemometer at 59th Street).
_____
Sign up for free daily news updates from Ocean City.
_____
Ocean City Emergency Management Coordinator Frank Donato confirmed the 38 mph peak reading at 59th Street at 9:29 p.m.
Gigi said the winds would have been coming from the west, unlike many of the storm events in Ocean City that feature ocean winds. He said localized winds could have been much stronger than the 38 mph recorded 30 blocks away.
Residents reported something much more than a 50 mph wind.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Chris Mazzitelli, a lifelong Ocean City resident.
Mazzitelli, who lives on the 2800 block of Simps0n Avenue, said he was watching television with his family around 9:30 p.m. Sunday when they paused as the storm arrived.
“To hear it was like, wow, what is this,” Mazzitelli said.
Mazzitelli said he went outside to see traffic lights swaying violently, electrical wires arcing and trash cans strewn everywhere.
“It went from being perfectly calm, and it left just as quickly,” he said.
Ocean City Police Capt. Steve Ang said officers took reports of wind that “sounded like a freight train” coming across properties. He said the winds flipped a boat trailer, knocked down stop signs and stripped homes of roof shingles and vinyl siding, according to the reports.
The reports noted an air temperature of 55 degrees and a recorded wind of 84 mph — though he did not know the source of the wind reading.
Ocean City experienced similarly powerful super-localized straight-line winds in a storm in July 2011 that sent a Van Duyne lifeguard boat tumbling down the beach (see video) and tore the roof off the Sun-Aqua Suites near 14th Street. A June 2012 derecho saw major destruction across a much wider area of the mainland.
See Also: Snow Likely for Tuesday in Ocean City
