Community steps in to clean up recovering Ocean City

Wooden fences, mangled street signs, and tons of sand can be found in Ocean City right now. It’s clear the Department of Public Works has their work cut out for them after the beaches were pummeled by winter weather over the weekend.

Bob Banach says, “They’re working them to the bone, so the least we can do since we’re all fans and love Ocean City is lend a hand.”

Banach has deep roots in the town and is a big photography guy. He says he comes out to the beach every sunrise to take pictures, but on Sunday there was a different scene.

He continues, “It was just a mess out here.”  

Overnight he set up a Facebook page asking folks to commit one hour for a week to help clean storm debris. Dozens of people showed up on Monday. When they headed out to the sands they found just about everything; like sea snakes and toy army men.

Volunteers also helped out sea creatures that washed ashore. They needed some help getting back to their home.

According to town officials, initial reports are showing minimal damage. They believe in two weeks- time O.C. will be back to its old self.

However, beach erosion seems to be a prominent issue. There have been reports of 10 foot drops created from dunes washing away. The mayor says they’ll be working with the Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corp engineers to restore the erosion. Beach lovers are confident things will fall into place.

Valerie Whitcomb says, “Mother Nature has a way of pushing stuff back in. Hopefully she’ll be nice to us and start pushing some of that sand back in.”

Town officials are requesting that residents and visitors still avoid areas of the boardwalk, beach, and the inlet lot where public works crews are working.

Banach and his volunteers will be meeting every day this week at noon this week at the inlet in Ocean City to clean the beach.