The after effects of the eastern shore flooding

It was a beautiful summery day on Delmarva but it wasn’t too long ago that talking about the weather meant talking about very heavy rain, potential effects of hurricanes and the definite effects of all that water on already saturated ground.

“We’re working 12 hour days out here,” said Keller Hopkins, with Hopkins Construction, as he showed us the damage.

The heavy rains that hit Delmarva near the beginning of October not only set records but also left a number of lasting detours, including parts of the main road between Salisbury and Snow Hill.

The fix, in this case, means replacing three old, 48 inch pipes beneath the road in Furnacetown. When those pipes couldn’t handle the rain,  the water overflowed and caused the erosion. Construction crews are installing a larger pipe built to handle more water. Route 12 is currently closed for a ten mile stretch. Hopkins says the hope is to have the road back in good condition by Thanksgiving.

However, this isn’t the only part of the Eastern Shore that took a beating. On the Maryland-Virginia state line, road erosion due to the floods created a huge break in the road on Sheephouse Road.

This particular area is where we had most of the water come through,” said Roman Jesien, Maryland Coastal Bays Scientist.  “It eroded the sides of the road then it broke through the asphalt and took that away. Then the sand and the base for the road got taken away leaving a big hole.”

Folks who live on either side of this dam now are rerouted about 20 minutes. Maryland Coastal Bays says they’re currently trying to work with decision makers to fix this problem and the dam not only needs to be repaired but the endangered wildlife living in the surrounding pond also needs to somehow be preserved.

Maryland Coastal Bays tells us that their biggest concern outside of fixing the roads on the shore is the water life. While some water animals were jumping for joy, others were completely pushed out of their habitat. Leaving an even bigger problem.  Big Mill pond surrounds the dam on Sheephouse road, that recently collapsed due to the early October floods.
 

This pond is home to large mouth bass, pickerel, and the endangered mud sun fish. These fish are endangered because they like to quiet swampy streams like this one and unfortunately, the shore has very few of them.  

If you’re interested in getting involved with saving endangered species in the damaged areas of the shore or want to be involved on a continuous basis with preserving wildlife, visit Maryland Coastal Bays webpage at http://www.mdcoastalbays.org/