Ocean City Puts Plans In Place To Repair Damage From Superstorm Sandy

OCEAN CITY, Md. (WJZ)—While our area was largely spared by Superstorm Sandy, Ocean City has made plans to repair the damage there.

Mike Schuh reports plans are underway to repair the damage there.

Wind and rain didn't stop fisherman from trying their luck at the Ocean City inlet.

Thomas Lee would rather be on the fishing pier, but Sandy swept it away.

"I believe Ocean City can recover from hurricane damage, and I'm sure the city can rebuild the fishing pier so that people can come over and enjoy fishing," Lee said.

The city doesn't own the pier. A business bought the rights and pays the city. The mayor says materials have been ordered by the owner, and it should be rebuilt by summer.

That's news welcomed by those now fishing the low ground.

"I think that the fact that they're going to try to have it fixed by the summer is a great thing," said David Wong. "The tourism industry here in Ocean City relies a lot on the fishing and the landmarks that they have down here."

Meantime, the Boardwalk is being rebuilt.

Massive timbers stretch to the horizon. It was work planned before Sandy's visit.

"Most of the people that are walking by tend to think that it's, where it's torn up, is a result of Hurricane Sandy, which it's not," said Mayor Rick Meehan. "We're tearing up a portion of the Boardwalk. We're putting in new concrete stringers, new pilings and then we're coming back and putting the wood planking on top of that."

This work should be done by March.

The contract with the city requires the pier operator to rebuild the pier to be at least as large as the one that washed away.