IDA LEAVES MARK ON WORCESTER

N or'Ida. The Friday the 13th storm. Whatever you call it,

(Top photo) Piles of broken sand fencing that washed up during last week's storm litter the beach at 27th Street on Saturday. Some of the boards are believed to have come from as far away as Delaware. (At left) Trash cans are caught in the flooded streets in downtown Ocean City. last week's three-day gale that pounded Ocean City and the entire mid-Atlantic coast left the beach battered and bruised, and the downtown area flooded, but the rest of the resort largely unscathed.

Some longtime Ocean City residents saw flashbacks of devastating storms from years past last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as the storm that began as Tropical Storm Ida churned up the coast, turning into a nor'easter along the way.

Though the storm did not bring anything close to the devastation of the March 1962 disaster or even the 1998 storm, it did cause the most severe beach erosion seen in a decade, according to City Engineer Terry McGean. He said the dunes stood up to the storm and did their job of pro- OCEAN CITY TODAY/CHRISTINE CULLEN tecting the resort from the storm surge, but they were severely eroded in the process.

PHOTO COURTESY MICHAEL CLEARY "We probably lost between a quarter and a half of the dune in some places. Fortunately, in a lot of places the dune was a lot larger than its design because it built up naturally over the years, so where the erosion might look really bad we still have a good level of protection," he said.

The hardest-hit areas were 140th to 146th streets, 70th to 90th streets and the uptown area known as "condo row," but along most of the beach the dunes were shorn away by the water and winds leaving at least a 6-foot drop to the beach below. McGean said much of the displaced sand ended up creating a sandbar not far off shore and that can be dredged to rebuild the dunes.

Other than the beach erosion, Ocean City fared quite well during the storm. Former Mayor Roland "Fish" Powell has lived through many destructive storms and he said last week's tempest was tame by comparison.

Ocean City lost between a quarter and a half of the bulk of its dunes during Tropical Storm Ida last week, but the dunes did their job and kept the water and sand from damaging buildings. OCEAN CITY TODAY/CHRISTINE CULLEN "The worst storm in my lifetime, and other people who lived here then said the same thing, the worst storm we've ever seen was the storm of '62. That was far more destructive than what we just had," he said. "When that was over, there was three and four feet of sand on most of the streets. There was mass destruction. This was nothing like in '62, no indeed. But it was bad enough; they're all bad storms."

Some low-lying areas of the county experienced some flooding but mostly nothing unexpected. State Highway Administration District Engineer Donnie Drewer said Route 12 in Snow Hill was covered with at least 8 inches of water near where it spans the Pocomoke River and remained closed until late Monday.

A portion of Homer Gudelsky Park on the bay at the eastern end of Old Bridge Road in West Ocean City has been closed by the county because of erosion.

The Fourth Street boardwalk had a railing before last week's storm. PHOTO COURTESY MIKE CLEARY Ocean Pines also was spared the worst effects of the storm, Public Works Director Kerry Nelson said. Flood-prone neighborhoods saw minor flooding and fallen tree branches — and a few large trees — but overall there was little damage done.

"We fared pretty well really, considering. There was some flooding in lower areas, some trees came down. There were a couple houses that had trees fall on top of them, and the tidal ditches definitely flooded. As far as Ocean Pines as a whole, I think we did pretty good," Nelson said.

From his vantage point on the Boardwalk at 10th Street, Inn on the Ocean owner Charlie Barrett kept a close eye on the storm and approaching waters, which he said were held back by the seawall. The inn suffered no damage from the storm.

"We weathered it quite well, we're very fortunate we had no leaks. A little bit of sand came over the seawall and at one point there was foam coming over, but the seawall was a lifesaver. There's a huge sand hill on the ocean-side of the wall about 7 or 8 feet high and the beach is down a foot or two where we are. But I think the Boardwalk made out pretty well," Barrett said.

A person looks down from a cliff-like perch on Assateague beach. OCEAN CITY TODAY/CHRISTINE CULLEN It was a similar situation in the bayfront neighborhood of Montego Bay. Harbour Drive resident Vera McCullough said the water came over the top of the wooden piers and washed away some boards but did not flood any houses in the neighborhood.

"One lady had a Waverunner on a lift and it was swept away by the waves. But we found it down the street and people were able to get it back for her," she said.

No buildings in Ocean City received more than superficial damage from the storm, and Planning Director Jesse Houston credited the resort's strict building codes that require most structures built in the last few decades to be protected from flooding and strong winds.

The strong winds caused a few power outages in the county. Delmarva Power spokesman Matt Likovich said the wind broke a utility pole in north Ocean City Thursday morning, leaving more than 3,000 residents without power for a few hours. A tree was blown onto a power line near the GlenRiddle development outside Berlin, causing a power outage in West Ocean City that affected 1,300 customers Thursday afternoon.

A tree down on Garrett Drive in Ocean Pines. OCEAN CITY TODAY/BRANDI MELLINGER As the region assesses the storm damage, Ocean City is working quickly to repair the damaged dunes. The Department of Natural Resources and Army Corps of Engineers are surveying the damage to determine how much sand was lost and what it will cost to replace it. McGean said that work would likely happen in two stages and begin in a month or two.

DNR has applied for an emergency contract to truck the sand from areas such as the beach and parking lot next to the inlet where it built up to repair the hardest hit dunes. That work should begin in 30-60 days. The city already had a major beach replenishment project scheduled for the spring and McGean said additional sand will be included in the project to make up for what was lost.

The bay laps against this building on Edgewater Avenue. PHOTO COURTESY JASON FRANK The city is meeting with the Army Corps and Federal Emergency Management Agency to discuss possible emergency funding for the increased beach replenishment work. PHOTO COURTESY MIKE CLEARY OCEAN CITY TODAY/CHRISTINE CULLEN OCEAN CITY TODAY/BRANDI MELLINGER PHOTO COURTESY JASON FRANK OCEAN CITY TODAY/CHRISTINE CULLEN PHOTO COURTESY FRANK FLEMING PHOTO COURTESY FRANK FLEMING PHOTO COURTESY JASON FRANK OCEAN CITY TODAY/CHRISTINE CULLEN PHOTO COURTESY FRANK FLEMING OCEAN CITY TODAY/STEWART DOBSON OCEAN CITY TODAY/NANCY POWELL OCEAN CITY TODAY/NANCY POWELL PHOTO COURTESY MIKE CLEARY OCEAN CITY TODAY/NANCY POWELL OCEAN CITY TODAY/STEWART DOBSON OCEAN CITY TODAY/STEWART DOBSON OCEAN CITY TODAY/STEWART DOBSON OCEAN CITY TODAY/STEWART DOBSON OCEAN CITY TODAY/STEWART DOBSON

A flooded campground at Assateague. OCEAN CITY TODAY/CHRISTINE CULLEN Sand overpowers fencing at North Division Street. PHOTO COURTESY FRANK FLEMING A flooded parking lot at Micky Fins. PHOTO COURTESY FRANK FLEMING Waves crash on the jetty at the Ocean City inlet. PHOTO COURTESY JASON FRANK The seawall did not stop sand from covering the Boarwalk. OCEAN CITY TODAY/CHRISTINE CULLEN The only way to get down St. Louis Avenue was by boat. PHOTO COURTESY FRANK FLEMING A frontend loader clears a path on the Boardwalk. OCEAN CITY TODAY/STEWART DOBSON A canal runs over its banks in Ocean Pines. OCEAN CITY TODAY/NANCY POWELL View of St. Louis Avenue looking south from Route 50 bridge. OCEAN CITY TODAY/NANCY POWELL A truck braves the deep flood waters on Fourth Street. PHOTO COURTESY MIKE CLEARY Water flows along the road under the Route 50 bridge. OCEAN CITY TODAY/NANCY POWELL Jacqueline Avenue lies under water on Friday. OCEAN CITY TODAY/STEWART DOBSON High tide at Seacrets on Friday morning. OCEAN CITY TODAY/STEWART DOBSON The railing on the Fourth Street boardwalk before remounting. OCEAN CITY TODAY/STEWART DOBSON View south on the beach from 82nd Street. OCEAN CITY TODAY/STEWART DOBSON The beach downtown lies under debris and a downed sign. OCEAN CITY TODAY/STEWART DOBSON