By MADDY VITALE
A coastal storm Tuesday into Wednesday that predicted heavy downpours and strong wind gusts along the coast did just that and Ocean City did not escape it.
But despite the rains and winds through the afternoon into the night and early hours of Wednesday, Ocean City was spared any major damage, Frank Donato, the city’s Office of Emergency Management director, said Wednesday.
“There is nothing major to report, fortunately,” he said. “There were a handful of power outages from the storm last night. Overall, about 2.5 inches of rain fell.”
Gov. Phil Murphy had issued a State of Emergency for the entire state, but did not issue a travel ban.
If anyone had trouble sleeping in the storm that powered up in the late afternoon and just got stronger into the evening and the overnight hours, it was likely because of the loud and powerful wind gusts.
“Our highest wind gust was 65 mph last night just before 11 p.m., when the squall line came through,” Donato said.
On Tuesday, city officials warned residents and visitors that wind gusts could exceed 60 mph. In Brigantine, there was a gust recorded at 72 mph, according to reports.
Ocean City officials urged residents to use precautions and prepare on Tuesday. They were urged to secure loose objects on their property or bring them in, if possible. Driving was expected to be hazardous and they were told that there may be power outages, along with fallen trees from the heavy rains that left the ground saturated.
Donato noted that Ocean City suffered some flooding, but nothing monumental.
“There was some street flooding from the rain last night, which went away after the rain stopped,” he said. “And also some minor tidal flooding from the a.m. tide today, which is starting to clear up.”
Roseanne Monfardini of the group Ocean City NJ Flooding Committee Facebook group, posted a photo in the area of her home.
“There has been only very minor flooding throughout this whole storm,” she said. “I am posting for 31st to 33rd Streets of Haven and Simpson Aves. I don’t know how the rest of the island fared. Truthfully, I have never heard anything like that wind and I have been here since 1987.”
