Del. officials eye road conditions following storm flood

While it appears rain will not be a major threat this weekend, local roadways are not completely in the clear.

Several roads in Delaware were closed off Friday from high waters and damages.

DelDot spokesperson Jim Westhoff says about 300 crew members statewide spent the day cleaning up roads, more than 100 in Sussex County alone.

“It’s going to be a long while until we get out of this,” says Westhoff.

According to Westhoff, the southern portion of the county saw the worst of damages.

This includes part of Indian Mission and Beaver Dam Roads on Route 5 between Lewes and Georgetown, which was closed Friday.

Westhoff says road crews and inspectors can start accessing damage as soon as debris is cleared, but that can’t start until water recedes and that can take awhile.

Fortunately, there were not many road collapses reported aside from the one on Route 5.

The collapse was caused by erosion from the flood. Water washed over the road, scooping out soil underneath of it. Ultimately, there was nothing underneath that portion of the road which caused it to collapse.

Doug Brown has lived in Lewes for ten years, and he says he’s never seen Route 5 in the condition it was on Friday.

The road closure did not impact his commute, but he says he made sure to avoid it Thursday when the rain was coming down.

“We came down here and we turned around when it was really rushing over this over the roadway. Few people went through it, but I just didn’t want to chance it,” explains Brown.

Westhoff says DelDot will continue monitoring weather conditions and roadways over the weekend.

“Especially down in the Indian inlet river bridge area, our concern is the tides because the back bay has been flooding onto the road at high tide so we’re watching every high tide cycle,” he explains.

As for Brown, he says road closures don’t bother him.

“In the short term, it’s an inconvenience but in the long run, you’re better off,” says Brown.

DelDot says it’s unclear exactly how long it will take to fix road damages but they say road closures are possible this weekend, if need be.