Ocean City Continues To Dig Out From 15 Inches Of Snow

OCEAN CITY, NJ — Due to continuing low temperatures, the snow from Thursday's storm has not melted, and it must be removed, like the beach sand on the streets following Superstorm Sandy in 2012, Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian said on Friday. Plows are creating massive walls and piles of snow that have to be removed by truck. Even though Ocean City has a fleet of plows, the city hired an outside contractor to bring in more dump trucks and equipment to help.

"Our Public Works team has been working around-the-clock and made great progress under extremely challenging conditions," Gillian said in an update Friday afternoon. "We have every staff member and every plow working, and we’ve now hired an outside contractor to bring in six dump trucks and additional equipment to help out."

And there is a lot of snow to remove. Ocean City was buried under 15.5 inches of snow, second in accumulation to the 17 inches that fell on Cape May Court House. Wildwood saw 15 inches, and Dennisville had 14.5 inches. Cape May County saw the highest snow accumulations in the state.

Additionally, Ocean City's wind gusts reached 49 mph. Wind gusts in Cape May reached 59 mph.

"If at all possible, please try to limit your travel to make room for our crews to work," Gillian said. "You also can help by not pushing snow onto a cleared street as you shovel out and by parking cars as close as possible to the curb. The emergency routes and north-south avenues are in good shape. The fleet will continue to work through the night and for as long as it takes to clear all other streets and alleys."

The Public Works team plans to remove the mounds of snow on the sides of downtown Asbury Avenue between Sixth Street and 14th Street from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Saturday evening into Sunday morning.

Trash collection has been delayed one more day. The updated schedule released on Friday is as follows:

• Friday, Jan. 5: No pickup as cleanup from winter storm continues
• Saturday, Jan. 6: South side of 9th Street to north side of 17th Street (normally Wednesdays) and south side of 3rd Street to north side of 9th Street (normally Thursdays).
• Monday, Jan. 8: Longport Bridge to north side of 3rd Street (normally Fridays) and south side of 34th to 59th streets (normal Monday pickup).

The Shelter Road Recycling Center is closed on Friday, Jan. 5.

There is some good news. The Ocean City Aquatic and Fitness Center reopened on Friday after being closed for the day on Jan. 4. The Ocean City Free Public Library will open at 9 a.m. Saturday.

"It’s during times like this that Ocean City has always shown its community spirit," Gillian said. "Please look after your family, friends and neighbors to make sure everybody is warm and safe."

See related: Storm Cleanup Will Take Multiple Days, Ocean City Mayor Says

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