Ocean City Public Works crews were busy cleaning up shattered terra-cotta roofing tiles after lightning struck the Golden Galleon building on the Ocean City Boardwalk in an intense thunderstorm Thursday morning.
The circa 1929 building, home to the Air Circus kite and toy store and a 7th Street Surf Shop location, appeared to suffer no other damage from the lightning strike. It is located between 11th and 12th streets.
The boardwalk was almost empty at dawn as a line of storms moved across Ocean City between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. Nobody was injured by the falling debris.
The storm also flooded streets as heavy rainfall coincided with a high tide that hampered the city’s storm drain system.
Residents and visitors on low-lying blocks from the beach to the bay woke to find the interior of their cars threatened by the rising rainwater.
The round of morning storms had passed by 8 a.m., but the chance of more storms continues throughout the day.
