Ocean City, Maryland, orders evacuation before Hurricane - Ocean City, Maryland - Ocean City officials have ordered thousands of residents and visitors to evacuate the beachfront community of Maryland and the governor has declared a state of emergency as Hurricane Irene is coming.
Mayor Rick Meehan said the third phase of the hurricane action plan goes into effect at midnight. Any non-emergency personnel is ordered to leave.
Meehan says there are probably about 125,000 to 150,000 people in Ocean City. He said officials had been urging visitors to the house of the head, but now they are telling the roughly 7,000 residents in the city to seek refuge elsewhere.
Meehan also prohibits the sale of alcohol and asked that all businesses around midnight.
No vehicle, except emergency vehicles and those approved by the mayor, city manager or director of emergency services are allowed to enter.
