Crisfield sees flooding following weekend

After a wet weekend on Delmarva, residents in Crisfield experienced minor flooding on some streets on Monday.

City Manager Rick Pollitt explains most of the high water can be attributed to high tides, not water.

“We had provisions made for evacuations, we actually made property available for people to take their cars out of their yards to park them on high ground, we made sand available for people to pack sand bags if they needed them,” Explains Pollitt.

He says that citizens did take advantage of those resources and says although it’s not uncommon for the city of Crisfield to experience flooding, he admits Monday’s conditions were, in his words, “unusual”, because of how much flooding there is throughout the city.

The highest volume of water measured up to seven inches, with sidewalks like Fifth and Broadway completely underwater.

Somerset County Public School officials made a decision Monday to close for the day due to safety concerns for students; however, no streets were closed. Pollitt said there was no risk of people being stranded.

“Our biggest concern is not so much people being able to drive across the flooded streets but it’s the ones who speed through flood zones and make wave action. It’s the waves that come from the speeding traffic washing up on other people’s property,” He says.

Crisfield native Demetrius Richardson tells 47 ABC he’s seen the city in worse conditions, and he says flooding is becoming a frequent incident.

“Through time, I guess the way the condition is in the ground and everything, it’s kind of getting higher and but it’s always been like this and we found good out of a every bad so it’s normal,” Says Richardson.

Crisfield residents say that typically, it takes about three days for flood water to subside.

Pollitt says town officials are meeting Thursday to assess how well the town was prepared, whether the decisions they made were right, and if there is any damage.