NJ Blizzard: Ocean City Fares Better Following Saturday High Tide; One More To Go

Ocean City, NJ -- Saturday night’s high tide crested five inches shorter than the Saturday morning tide, and Ocean City Emergency Management Coordinator Frank Donato is hoping the overnight wind will help blow the water back out to sea.

The tide seemed to peak around 8:30 p.m., and Donato estimated the height to be 7.8 feet mean low water. The morning tide hit 8.04, which is on par with the Nor’easter that hit the city in November of 2009, but not as high as what was experienced during Superstorm Sandy.

Still, the storm was worse than expected, and the Ocean City police and fire departments were very busy, particularly when it came to rescuing people from cars.

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“Some people didn’t move their cars in time and when they went to move them, they got stuck. Some people just got caught by surprise,” Donato said.

Winds were 50 mph with wind gusts of 63 mph on Saturday, but it died down considerably on Saturday night. Donato was hoping a forecast that called for a change in wind direction overnight proved to be true. A northwest wind would blow water back out to sea. On Saturday, a northeast wind pulled the water in, resulting in water coming into the streets and ultimately freezing.

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The worst part of the storm was supposed to be 3 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, but Coastal Flood, High Wind and Winter Storm warnings remain in effect through Sunday morning.

After that, city officials can begin to assess any long term damage the island might have suffered.

“The Army Corps of Engineers still hadn’t touched up the south end after the October storm,” Donato said. “We’ll have to see if we can get any sand we might have lost this weekend added to that project. The north end was completely done and there were no plans to revisit it.”

Donato said he was expecting Sunday morning’s high tide to be comparable to Saturday night’s. That tide is set for 8:11 a.m.

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