Delaware beach towns brace for Matthew
WILMINGTON, Del. — You didn't need to tune into weather TV to know coastal communities like Rehoboth Beach are taking Hurricane Matthew seriously.
Wednesday morning, municipal crews removed dozens of the white, wooden benches from the city's mile-long boardwalk. They weigh 200 pounds a piece, but a raging surf and powerful winds could lift and sweep them away or worse yet, turn them into massive, airborne projectiles.
Rehoboth officials took no chances nor did municipal officials up and down the coast.
In Rehoboth, they also used the opportunity to get a jump start on removing and reconditioning the 175 benches along the boardwalk and Rehoboth Avenue for next season, said Krys Johnson, a city spokeswoman.
Tony Pratt, the state shoreline and waterway administrator, said that even though storm tracks released Wednesday show Hurricane Matthew heading east and out to sea well south of the Delmarva Peninsula or doing a loop back toward Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico, there is still considerable uncertainty about the storm.
"We have to watch the next 24 hours very carefully," he said.
Forecasters say the storm is a big one with hurricane strength winds that extend 45 miles out and tropical storm wind out 175 miles and that could mean tropical storm or hurricane conditions as far north as North Carolina later this week. There could be dangerous beach and boating conditions along much of the east coast.
And because the forecast track is from Florida to South Carolina it becomes difficult to determine specific impacts such as where the storm might make landfall. A small shift can mean devastation for one area and less damage for another as happened during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The storm was projected to make landfall along the Delaware Coast but instead came ashore 40 miles north near Atlantic City, N.J. Delaware's coast was spared significant damage.
Pratt said he is watching Hurricane Matthew closely with two key concerns. Wind, waves and storm surge could further damage the severely depleted ocean coast from Cape Henlopen south to Fenwick Island and make nearby properties far more vulnerable.
And rain.
"Sussex can not afford to get much more rain," Pratt said. "The soils are saturated."
Roadside ditches are already filled to the brim in many areas.
"There's a lot to watch for in this storm," he said.
While all of Sussex is vulnerable to flooding if there is more heavy rain, there are also concerns for northern Delaware, he said.
If there is heavy rainfall throughout the region, especially just north of the state line in Pennsylvania, that could increase the risk of flooding in New Castle County, he said.
When Hurricane Irene moved up the coast in 2011, there was so much rain in nearby Pennsylvania that satellite images of the Delaware and Chesapeake Bay showed a slug of muddy, brown water. Tropical Lee, a few days later, brought more rain, sediment and debris and Delaware Bay beaches were covered with upstream debris including some medical waste that officials believe washed off urban streets to the north. One couple found a cellphone that still worked at Cape Henlopen. When they called the owner, they learned he had lost in in the Delaware River while fishing along the bank in Bucks County, Pa.
As crews removed the benches and trash cans from the boardwalk, dozens of people took their morning exercise. There were already big waves but almost no one was concerned about Matthew.
Longtime Rehoboth Beach business owner Louie Gouvas, of Louie's Pizza, said he wasn't concerned.
"We've been through 150 of them and as soon as they hit the Carolinas they lose power," he said. "We might lose the beach and the boardwalk."
Gouvas has had a business in Rehoboth for so long he remembers the damage from the March Storm of 1962 — the last, catastrophically damaging coastal storm in Delaware. Even then, with the boardwalk gone and businesses and homes scattered like topsy-turvy dollhouses along the coast, Gouvas was able to open his doors and sell his famous pizza and sandwiches.
"We had a line a half-a-block long," because so many people came to the city to report on the damage and help with the cleanup, he said.
Cornelius Blake, of Rehoboth Beach, said he wasn't worried yet.
"I'll start worrying on Sunday," he said. "It may not even come here."
And Paula Donovan, also of Rehoboth, said she wasn't worried, either though she said "it's always smart to be prepared."
Pratt said the most vulnerable beach along the Delaware ocean coast is at Bethany, where the previous storms caused significant sand loss, dune damage and erosion.
"Bethany is ground zero for this storm," he said
Matthew is a reminder, he said, that we are once again entering the fall and winter storm season when significant beach erosion is possible.
Hurricanes in Delaware
• Last hurricane: Hermine. The storm shifted and moved to the east away from the coast before it impacted Delaware. It did produce powerful waves and rip currents over the Labor Day holiday weekend.
• Near miss: Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The storm made landfall north of Atlantic City but just a few days earlier, it was projected to make landfall north of Fenwick Island. Even though the storm tracked farther north, it still caused significant flooding along Delaware's Inland Bays and Delaware Bay.
• Craziest path: Twenty-two in 2005. This tropical depression looped back over its path off the coast of Delaware in October 2005.
• Worst damage in Delaware: March Storm of 1962. The storm was a nor'easter and not a hurricane and it destroyed homes and businesses from New York to North Carolina. For decades, this storm held the record for the highest tide at Lewes Breakwater Harbor. That record was matched and slightly surpassed with the January 2016 nor'easter.
Follow Molly Murray on Twitter: @MollyMurraytnj
