OC Mayor Declares State Of Emergency, Mandatory Evacuation - WMDT 47 News - Delmarva's Choice

OCEAN CITY, Md. - Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan declares a local state of emergency and mandatory evacuation.    

Anyone living on 17th Street all the way to the inlet must evacuate by 8:00 p.m.  Emergency Services tells us that anyone in known low-lying areas or areas that usually flood are under a voluntary evacuation.

"We have law enforcement going door to door at this point to make notification to the residents," said Joseph Theobald, Director of Emergency Services.  "Eight is going to be one of the next high tides and we'll have to address it.  We expect severe flooding downtown and people have to use common sense and use precaution to be ready to move in a moment's notice."

Residents and visitors of Ocean City are still deciding whether or not to leave.  One family, who was down here for the Halloween Havoc softball tournament is deciding to leave.

"We really want to stay this is awesome," said John Nash of Bel Air, Md.  "This is great to see the turning of the ocean."

"I kind of want to stay because it's really cool to look at the ocean, but it's time to go home," said daughter Aly Nash.

But as they leave, one local resident says he will be watching the storm as it makes landfall.

"It's going off man.  I like to be in it [the ocean], but it's too gnarly," said Don Mattie of West Ocean City.  "We're just going to hand here man and wait it out."