Hurricane Erin contributed to the flooding of some roadways in the First State.
Route 1 between Dewey Beach and Fred Hudson Road in Bethany Beach experienced overnight closures due to excessive flooding Thursday night, but notably not due to failures on the oceanfront following replenishment projects by DNREC according to CR McLeod, the DelDOT’s Director of Community Relations.
"While there was erosion that occurred in that area that was replenished, the dune system is intact.” he told DPM.
Dune breaches caused previous flooding in the area in March and August of last year. Since then DNREC responded with emergency dredging and beach replenishment projects, which Mcleod says held firm.
Instead the water covering all four lanes of road was from the bay side, which McLeod said resulted in a far shorter road closure, as closures were lifted Friday morning.
McLeod says that DelDOT is monitoring water levels as coastal flood warnings remain into Saturday, but they do not anticipate any further closures as Erin moves further out to sea.
DelDOT expects to monitor hurricane impacts through the remainder of hurricane season.
Coastal flood warnings remain in effect until 2am Saturday morning.
