Cleanup Efforts Continue In Ocean City

OCEAN CITY, Md. (WJZ) -- Cleanup efforts are underway in Ocean City after severe flooding caused by strong winds.

Rick Ritter has the latest.

What a difference 24 hours makes in Ocean City: the wind has died down significantly, the ocean is much calmer and flooding has receded---but now the cleanup begins.

For the first time in days, the sun is out in Ocean City---but the cleanup is just getting started.

Wind gusts from a coastal storm and Hurricane Joaquin walloped beaches. Where people usually sit on the boardwalk on benches is now smothered in sand.

"These guys are going to be busy. There's a lot of sand where it doesn't belong," said resident Vicki Carr.

Front loaders are now trying to ix what they can and will be on the beach for the next few days.

"Public Works has their work cut out for them over the next couple of days," said one.

"The water came up to this lower deck...there's some wood out of the lower decks," said Mary Beach.

Beach lives on the bay. Her dock took a beating from Mother Nature. The tide washed away some of the boards. She's now trying to get back to a sense of normalcy.

"Never saw it worse than yesterday. It was brutal," said Joe Theobald, Emergency Management.

Businesses are back open on the boardwalk after most were closed for the weekend.

A town that was overshadowed by dark clouds all weekend knows just how fortunate they are after seeing the aftermath in the Carolinas.

"I think we dodged a bullet. We got lucky," Theobald said.

Almost all roads, if not every road, are reopened. The attention centers on removing sand.

Ocean City wasn't the only place that experienced flooding. Officials say 14 people were rescued from a trailer park in Calvert County after the Patuxent River flooded. It took Prince Frederick crews about two hours to complete the rescue. Everyone in the trailer park has been accounted for and no injuries were reported.