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Wednesday, June 13, 2018

OC ‘Simply Cannot Handle’ Seven Inches Of Rain In Three Hours, City Engineer Explains

OCEAN CITY — It appears the dramatic flooding in the resort’s north end Saturday had more to do with epic rainfall amounts, limited elevation and natural topography than any flaw in the drainage system.

By most estimates, more than seven inches of rain fell over the resort area last Saturday afternoon, causing wheels-deep flooding through much of Ocean City, especially in the north end where Coastal Highway was shut down for an extended period of time. It certainly isn’t unusual for Coastal Highway and many of the resort’s roadways to flood during even modest rainfall events, but last Saturday’s storm went to new heights.

City Engineer Terry McGean this week explained the town’s storm drainage system, which flows from east to west to outfalls along the bay, was inundated during the storm and simply couldn’t keep up.

“Ocean City is a barrier island, so that means we are very close to sea level, surrounded by water and flat,” he said. “Plus, we are almost completely built out with very little pervious surface area left to absorb rainfall in the ground. What that means is that most of the rainfall runs directly into our storm drain system.”

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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who does he think he is fooling? I guess the low IQ imbeciles on the council. IF Ocean City hadn't overbuilt and paved over and cemented over just about every inch of bare ground drainage would not be a problem.

Anonymous said...

This shows you the intelligence of OC leaders. They put out these ignorant comments. Every person with CS, common sense, knows the drainage pipes are below water / tide level. So where would the Drainage go.

Anonymous said...

You mean it's a bad idea to completely pave over a sandy beach island?

Anonymous said...

Really? He has to explain the obvious! They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.....and condominiums, and more parking lots, and hotels, and so many restaurants that they can't be counted. They have basically paved over and built on the whole island. I'm waiting for it to sink from all the weight.

Anonymous said...

9:05 Guess you didn't bother to read the fourth paragraph. Talk about low IQ imbeciles.

Anonymous said...

Uhhhh he addresses exactly what you just said dingdong.

Anonymous said...

2:12 - I believe 9:05 is pointing out that they should not have built on the entire Island. The announcement should have read..."since we are imbeciles and covered almost every inch of ground we flooded. It really had nothing to do with the amount of rain. It really is that we are imbeciles."

Anonymous said...


Actually was a common sense and informative article about how the resort drainage system was designed.

Everywhere we design against some historical benchmark, and occasionally Ma Nature plays a wild card.

Anonymous said...

602
Occasionally the US Military creates a 1,000 year storm and floods a city. Got geoengineering?

Wake up!

These storms are not natural

Anonymous said...

Occasionally the US Military creates a 1,000 year storm and floods a city. Got geoengineering?

June 13, 2018 at 11:06 PM:

I see you are firmly in the grip of your delusions. Close your blinds and stare at the screen some more.