Storm slams Rehoboth, bays

Standing on the sand-covered Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk in front of the Henlopen Hotel, Speaker of the House Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf thanked God for the now-vanished dune.

If it weren’t for the dunes, said Schwartzkopf, the full strength of the ocean would have been hitting the hotel.

Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, was joined by Delaware U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, Sen. Ernie Lopez, R-Lewes, Rehoboth Mayor Sam Cooper and Tony Pratt, administrator of the state's Shoreline and Waterway Management section, at the north end of the boardwalk the morning of Jan. 25.

Pratt praised the protection offered by the dunes, but, he said, the Boardwalk, and other areas along the state’s coast where dunes were severely damaged, like Dewey and Bethany beaches, are now very vulnerable.

These dunes are built to be sacrificed, Pratt said. If another storm were to come in the near future, there could be problems, he added.

Pratt said Rehoboth and Dewey were already scheduled this year for dune replenishment as part of a three-year dune maintenance cycle. He said fortunately, bids for that project haven’t gone out yet. Surveyors will come back to measure how much sand is now needed, he said.

For now, said Pratt, normal wave action will return some of the washed-away sand to the beach, and bulldozers will be used to push the sand up into the most at-risk areas. He said he expected bulldozers on the beach by the end of the week.

Rehoboth will repair the Boardwalk. Cooper said the Boardwalk remains open except for its most northern block. He said he expected the Boardwalk to be open in its entirety in about a week.

Earlier in the morning, Carper, Pratt and Ray Bivens, state parks director, assessed the damage near the Indian River Inlet bridge.

Carper said there was a huge investment – he estimated $150 million – in the construction of the bridge, and a few million dollars worth of dune maintenance was well worth the cost.

“We have to protect our investments,” he said.

“The work that has been done in a federal/state partnership to build our resistance through the dunes means what we're talking about today is replacing sand rather than replacing properties,” Markell said after a helicopter tour of storm damage in Sussex County Jan. 24.

Bay communities seek answers

As state officials review options for beach replenishment along the coast, bay communities are also looking for an answer.

The solution isn't as clear, said Delaware Center for the Inland Bays Executive Director Chris Bason.

“Every major storm we have is an opportunity for people to understand climate change and sea level rise,” he said. “We're having these terrible problems in these low-lying communities right now, and it's only going to get worse as storms become more frequent and the sea rises even faster. The current patterns of construction need to respond to that in a big way.”

As residents along the Inland Bays assess their resiliency, the first response may be to dump rip-rap along water's edge. Bason encourages individuals and communities to consider living shoreline techniques instead, which can help stabilize the shoreline while also protecting infrastructure by supporting the natural absorbent nature of wetlands, marshes and natural shorelines.

“Storms like this show where the estuary will be in a few decades,” Bason said, adding that when hard infrastructure interferes with the absorbent nature of marshes and estuaries during major storms, property damage is inevitable.

Rehoboth Beach

Cooper said the city has contacted Sussex County Emergency Operations Center to assess damage. He said he expects the city to hear from county officials later this week.

Cooper said a portion of the north end of the Boardwalk would be rebuilt and the dune will require major work. He said he expects several beach communities will ask for beach renourishment and he said he worries there will be serious competition for a small number of contractors. He said with the dunes wiped out by the storm, the city is exposed to another large storm.

"There's only so many vessels that can do this kind of work," Cooper said. "We just have to get in line and hope to be done before summer."

Dewey Beach

Dewey Beach Mayor Diane Hanson said there was major dune damage, but it could have been much worse.

"The fierce and constant winds and very high surf made it by far the worst storm I’ve seen in a decade," she said.

Lewes

In Lewes, City Manager Paul Eckrich said flooding occurred in all the usual places, but no major damage has been reported to city hall. According to data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration during Saturday morning, Lewes reached a new high tide record of 9.27 feet, exceeding the record 9.2 feet set during the infamous Storm of 1962.

Major flooding occurred on Savannah Road, Anglers Road, Cedar Street and at the city's two public beach areas at the end of Savannah Road. New Road, an evacuation route out of Lewes, was closed into Jan. 24 at the bridge over Canary Creek.

Most of the flooding was limited to the beach side of town, Eckrich said, though Canalfront Park was underwater during high tide Saturday and Pilottown Road near the University of Delaware was impassible.

Eckrich said the city lost electric for some time Jan. 23, but no residents were without power longer than three hours.

The biggest issue, Eckrich said, was the wind.

“We had some trees down Saturday and when we tried to block off streets the barrels got blown away,” he said. “All in all, I think we were blessed.”

The city suspended trash service Jan. 25 in order to allow time to clean up the city.

At Beebe Healthcare, a rubber roof membrane on the fifth floor came loose in the high winds, spokeswoman Kelly Griffin said. She said 15 patients on the fifth floor were relocated because of noise as a temporary replacement was installed. The membrane was permanently repaired Jan. 25.

Milton

In Milton, flooding posed a much bigger problem than snow, said Public Works Supervisor Greg Wingo.

"It was horrible," Wingo said Jan. 25. "We're out here now trying to bust up ice and get downtown cleaned up."

Wingo and four public works staff have worked nearly nonstop barricading streets and clearing roads, some of which were still closed due to flooding. Magnolia Street, Chandler Street and a portion of Front Street remained closed Monday.

Fred Munzert of the Milton Theatre said water from the Broadkill River creeped up to 6 inches away from the theater on Union Street. He said no water entered at ground level, but the roof leaked during the storm. Nearby businesses on Union Street, including Wine Knot Shop, P.C. Rods, soon-to-be Happy Cow and 302 Fitness suffered water damage, possibly up to 4 inches.

Despite significant flooding, which Wingo compared to flooding during the October 2015 storm, Milton did not experience any problems with its water system or electricity.

"It's rough dealing with the ice," he said. "We're getting it done a little at a time."

Power lines hit hard by storm

The weekend storm packed a big punch on the Cape Region's power lines, but by Jan. 24 power was restored for most Delmarva Power and Delaware Electric Cooperative customers.

“The winds were worse than Sandy,” said Jeremy Tucker, spokesman for the cooperative. Winds gusted up to 60 mph with sustained high winds over a 15 hour period, he said.

Line damage was mostly caused by falling trees or branches, but a pole fell on the Classic Motel in Georgetown, Tucker said.

Most of the cooperative's outages occurred between 3 and 4 a.m. Jan. 23 when about 3,400 customers lost power. Power was restored by afternoon Jan. 24, he said.

For Delmarva Power spokesman Matt Likovich said Sussex County suffered more outages than Kent and New Castle.

At the storm's peak Jan. 23, Likovich said about 9,000 customers in Sussex County lost power; outages were restored by 1:15 p.m. Jan. 24, he said.

Overall, he said, 48,700 customers in Maryland and Delaware lost power during the storm.

“We were fortunate that a good portion of the storm was rain,” he said. “But as the saying goes, you prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

In their own words

"The winds were worse than Sandy," said Jeremy Tucker, Delaware Electric Cooperative

"It was horrible. It wasn't the snow - it was dealing with the flooding," said Greg Wingo, Milton Public Works supervisor.

“We need much wider buffers to protect those natural coastal ecosystems that can absorb those floodwaters. Not just now, but into the future, so the wetlands can migrate. They're helping to protect the properties that are near the water," said Chris Bason, executive director at the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays.