Ocean City experienced the worst flooding since 2012’s Superstorm Sandy during high tide on Saturday morning, and the island is bracing for two more high tides that could be equally damaging.
Flood waters stretch from the bay to Asbury Avenue on Fourth Street in Ocean City, NJ on Saturday morning.The island was cut off from the mainland when public safety officials blocked access to all causeways leading to Ocean City on Saturday morning. Most of the bayside Bay, Simpson, Haven and West avenues were covered by water, and storm surf battered the newly restored beaches and dunes.
Ocean City awoke to a coating of about 5 or 6 inches of snow, but the precipitation quickly turned to rain in the daylight hours.
The first of three potentially major high tides came at about 7:20 a.m. with the tidal gauge at the Bayside Center (on the 500 block of Bay Avenue) reporting a peak tide of 8.04 feet on the mean low water scale. That is comparable with the 8.02 feet recorded in November 2009 during a nor’easter that leveled dunes at the north end. Superstorm Sandy, by comparison, was at 10.02 feet on the same scale.
The next high tides are at 7:54 p.m. Saturday and 8:11 a.m. Sunday (tides at the Ninth Street Bridge on Ocean City’s bay side). The astronomical prediction for Saturday evening’s tide was lower than that of Saturday morning’s, and the most recent forecast suggests the wind may begin to diminish just slightly.
The peak wind gust on Saturday morning came at 8:33 a.m. at 66 mph (recorded on the 59th Street anemometer), and sustained winds were at 45 to 50 mph.
The wind and rain-melted snow are contributing to flooding in Ocean City, and streets continued to see more water even after high tide passed. With the streets leading to the 34th Street and Ninth Street bridges underwater, Ocean City police blocked access. Somers Point police blocked access to the Longport causeway.
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Police were planning to reopen the causeways if the tide subsided, but they urged residents to stay off the roads and not drive through flood waters.
Despite the wind and flooding, Atlantic City Electric reported fewer than 50 power outages in scattered pockets throughout Ocean City.
At 2:30 p.m., only three people were taking advantage of a shelter at Ocean City High School, though a small handful had been at the shelter earlier in the day. The Ocean City Fire Department was using its military surplus vehicles to navigate the flooded streets and reach people in need.
Residents shared photos on social media that showed the worst flooding in recent memory.
Winter Storm, Coastal Flood and High Wind warnings remain in effect through Sunday morning.
