The tornado that touched down in western Sussex County Saturday damaged about two to three dozen homes between Bridgeville and Ellendale, destroying some entirely and killing one man in his home near Greenwood. The man’s wife, who was also in the home during the storm, survived.
Delaware had not previously seen a fatality from a tornado since 1983.
Emergency service providers began conducting search-and-rescue operations on Saturday evening after the first bout of strong winds, though they were briefly forced to shelter in place as a second storm arrived.
Elsewhere in the county, some residents – including those at the new pallet shelter village in Georgetown – also sheltered in place.
Power outages peaked at 6,000 customers, but were mostly been restored and numbered in the low hundreds as of Sunday morning. By late Sunday afternoon, almost all outages were addressed.
Sunday morning, volunteers and emergency responders were busy clearing debris. At a partially destroyed DelDOT storage and repair yard, Delaware Emergency Management Agency Director AJ Schall said state agencies and nonprofit partners are prepared to find temporary shelter for those who lost their homes.
“The Red Cross did assist a few people last night with shelter,” he said as behind him, loose sheet metal panels hung from the rafters of a damaged building, slammed together by a light wind. “The assessment teams on the ground are busy assessing numbers. If needed, we will open a shelter. If not, it could be a hotel, it could be getting them to a family’s house – we’ll do that short-term.”
The Department of Health and Social Services also opened a hotline for anyone needing emergency shelter, medical care, food or other assistance.
DelDOT estimates the repairs to its yard alone could cost $5 million; the state will work with those whose homes were destroyed or damaged to determine the total cost of repairs.
Schall says the state and its partners plan to support anyone whose home was damaged or destroyed by the storm as they begin rebuilding.
“The state’s not going to be able to help everyone rebuild on their own,” he said. “But with us, the volunteer groups, their insurance companies – we’ll figure out what we can assist people with.”
Schall says the state may apply for federal assistance for the recovery effort. FEMA would only be able to provide funding to support housing repair efforts if the state can demonstrate that upwards of 20 to 25 uninsured homes were destroyed.
Gov. John Carney arrived in Sussex County on Sunday to survey the damage, offering his condolences to those whose lives were upturned by the storm.
“We can rebuild buildings, but we can’t bring back a life,” he said, though he also noted that the storm more densely populated parts of the county. “It could have taken a different path and affected more residents,” he said, “but if it’s your house, it’s everything.”
