A Century of Muck Jams Atlantic City's Drainage Canals

There's something about the widespread and altogether tragic flood damage brought on by – you guessed it – Hurricane Sandy that makes cleaning out Atlantic City's drainage canal for the first time in nearly a century seem like a no-brainer, but officials are far from certain that it will have an effect. Hopefully nature's massive wake-up call will motivate donors to provide for the $6.4 million dollar cleanup project.

Atlantic City’s largest drainage canal hasn’t been cleaned out in a century, but officials hope Hurricane Sandy provides momentum for a $6.4 million project to do just that.

The city has no record of cleaning out the canal under Baltic Avenue, to which 29 percent of the resort drains, since it was built in 1913, city Engineer Bill England said.

Documents from 1932 and 1987 indicate the canal was not clogged at those times. The 1932 report, however, shows accumulated debris measured as thick as 18 inches.