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Early morning storm rips through Rehoboth Beach

Large trees knocked down, houses and cars damaged, power outage lasts for hours
An early morning thunderstorm Sept. 13 knocked over a number of trees and cut power to many parts of Rehoboth Beach. This still-under-construction house in Henlopen Acres had a tree from its front yard land on it. CHRIS FLOOD PHOTOS
Chris Flood
September 13, 2022

Story Location:
New Castle Street Extended
Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971
United States

An early morning thunderstorm with strong winds and rain Sept. 13 caused significant damage throughout Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres.

Rehoboth Beach officials issued a notice a little before 7 a.m. saying there was localized flooding, tree debris and power out on Rehoboth Avenue. By late morning, some of the power had been restored and most of the power was expected to be restored by mid-afternoon.

Lynne Coan, Rehoboth Beach spokesperson, said the city spoke with the National Weather Service and there was no mention of a possible tornado. The weatherman said the uprooted trees sounded like straight-line wind damage that could happen with 60 to 70 mph gusts, she said.

The city released a statement on its Facebook page telling residents, as they clean up, to place small yard debris in brown paper bags or the brown container provided by the city. Limbs may be placed at the curb. If possible, cut and bundle limbs. Limbs should be no more than 4 feet in length. City workers began picking up debris Sept. 13.

In a follow-up email Sept. 14, Coan said the city received no reports of injuries or deaths because of the storm.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with information related to injuries.

 

This house on New Castle Street Extended appears to have gotten the worst of the damage.
A crew member of Sussex Tree is lowered down from a crane as tree removal continues.
This car was spared the brunt of this tree’s power.
The owner of this house said the top of this tree didn’t come through the house, but there’s now a dip in the roof because it almost did.
City crew clean up the branches and leaves not on houses or touching power lines.
This car in Henlopen Acres was spared some damage because the roof of the house is holding up the rest of the tree.
Delmarva Power works to remove this large tree before restoring power.
A couple of inches to the right and this tree would have gone through the large window on the back of this house.
A large tree almost fell onto this house on Columbia Avenue.
Large branches of this size were down all over town.
How nice of this vehicle to break the fall of this large tree.
It wasn’t just houses and cars. A streetlight in Rehoboth Beach was also knocked over.
The drawbridge heading into Rehoboth Avenue was closed while power company crews worked to clear things up.

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Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014 and has the local parking passes to prove it. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories, random stories on subjects he finds interesting and has a column called ‘Choppin’ Wood’ that runs every other week. Additionally, Chris moonlights as the company’s circulation manager, which primarily means fixing boxes during daylight hours that are jammed with coins, but sometimes means delivering papers in the middle of the night. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design. People are often surprised to learn that Chris has a wife and two kids.

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