OCEAN CITY, Md. - Ocean City’s beach is experiencing erosion from the windy conditions and strong waves.
Wind gusts are so strong that they are bringing sand from the beach onto the boardwalk. Large waves are forming from the weather as well, causing the current to pull sand away from the shoreline.
Zane Zeppuhar is visiting Ocean City from Pittsburgh. He says his vacation isn’t ruined, but the weather is a bit of a bummer. He saw erosion on the beach earlier this week.
“There was this big sand wall that was formed because of the waves,” he says. “It was like three feet, four feet tall because the waves were so big overnight. That's gone entirely. It flattened out the entire beach now.”
Ocean City’s Manager Terry McGean says more erosion is expected for this week, but he says the town is prepared.
“We do have a beach replenishment project planned for this off season,” he says. “We do beach replenishment roughly every four years. What they do is they'll take surveys of the beach, and then they establish sort of a minimum design to keep the beach with the protection that it needs and additional protection for another four years. until we renourish again. So based on that survey, they calculate a final amount of how much sand we need to pump and where we need to put it, and off we go.”
Through all of this wind and rain, crews are still setting up for the Oceans Calling festival. Set up for the event began last week. The event is rain or shine according to McGean, and he hopes for a weekend full of music.
“They have been making pretty good progress setting up the event,” he says. “Everyone's keeping an eye on the weather.”
In an Oceans Calling social media post, their team says, "Our team is working around the clock to ensure the grounds are ready and safe for your arrival."
The Oceans Calling music festival is now scheduled to begin Friday at 1 p.m. and go through Sunday in Ocean City.
