A long and scary ride to Primehook Beach

Becky and I drove out to Primehook Beach at about noon to see how the community was prepared for Irene.  From Route 1, the Primehook Beach road crosses some of Delaware's most beautiful farmland.  It rolls slightly as it passes through corn and soybean fields before it reaches the edge of the marshes and what have become open bays in the section of Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge before the road reaches the beach community of Primehook.  On this day, with the winds beginning to whip and the rain growing in intensity, it was very easy to sympathize with the Primehook Beach property owners who are concerned that the breaches in the dunes north of the community are allowing storm waters in which quickly create flooding.

As we drove the long road across the marsh and open waters, the decision was made to turn around quickly once we reached the community.  We saw no sign of life in the community and it was clear that when high tide arrives this evening, the Primehook road will probably be under at least a foot of water and impassable.  Driving back, I stopped to take the picture here and felt very vulnerable.

Driving south and east again on Route 1, we encountered very high winds and driving rain while we were listening to Bill Colley on WGMD talking about reports of a tornado in the area. I think those high winds we encountered between Waples Pond and Rt. 16 were associated with those tornado reports.

We'll walk into downtown Lewes in another hour as high tide starts to fill the low parts of town. It's 3:15 and the wind is beginning to ship the trees more.  Time to move the truck across the street to the school where it will be out of the way of tall trees on our street.