Inventory of Storm Aftermath Begins in Ocean City

OCEAN CITY — “We got hit pretty hard,” Mayor Sal Perillo told the Herald. “We now have a nice view of Atlantic City we didn’t have a week ago.”
Officials on the local, county, state and federal levels gathered today where dunes once existed on East Atlantic Boulevard. beach.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and New Jersey State Police Office of Emergency Management began to survey the damage in order to get a detailed assessment to submit to state and federal government.
The mayor, Cape May County Emergency Management Director Frank McCall and Ocean City Emergency Management Director Frank Donato were on scene to provide an update and field questions.
Perillo said the city had $17 million already lined up for a sand replenishment scheduled for coming months. He said there is hope that the city will receive additional FEMA aid to supplement that funding.
A “rough estimation” of damage is about $90 million, Perillo said.
Sgt. Patrick Gorman of the New Jersey State Police Office of Emergency Management said the assessment will take place on three levels: beaches, public assets and individual assets.
He said some public facilities were damaged, including Ocean City High School, which was used as a shelter during the storm. Damage to the school is estimated at $300,000.
“We will be here until the job is done,” Gorman said.
A few feet of sand that had covered East Atlantic Boulevard was shoveled back toward shore, Perillo said.
Exact assessment numbers are expected towards the end of the week.