Remnants of Hurricane Michael cause widespread flooding
SALISBURY, Md. – Overnight the remnants of Hurricane Michael moved across Delmarva, dumping over half-a-foot of rain on Salisbury.
On Friday, residents woke up to flood waters in the streets or in their yards.
“It was pretty high in my front yard this morning. And we had a lot of wind last night, had some limbs blow down,” said Salisbury resident Mike Corbitt.
Some of the worst flooding the City of Salisbury saw was at the Canal Woods Apartment complex. City officials were on hand to help evacuate some of the residents of these apartments behind me.
“This is an area where, the last three years, we’ve seen more and more significant flooding. And something that we think is only going to get worse,” said Salisbury Mayor Jake Day.
The flood waters in the morning forced residents to rush to save as much of their possessions as they could. Those effected tell us it was both hectic and chaotic.
“Just water, you see it coming in through the walls. It didn’t even enter through the door first. So it’s just the pressure pushing it through,” said Salisbury resident Jacob Dennis. “Intrusive. Just to know that everything from your house needed to get out.”
Later in the morning, officials decided to close Route 13 in the city at Priscilla Street.
Though the rains had been gone for hours, water continued to flow to this low lying spot.
“The water is coming from all over elsewhere in the region and it is finding its way right to the center,” said Day. “And the bowl refills even though tides are going down, even though flood waters are receding elsewhere.”
Dozens of vehicles still finding their way around the barricades, with one vehicle being overtaken by the flood waters. For locals and officials alike, the sight of this type of flooding in the city has become all too common.
“I never seen this as a kid growing up. This is all something new, and the last several years we’ve had this. But when I was growing up, you never saw it,” said Corbitt.
“But seven and a half inches, in a five hour period is unbelievable. This is concerning and what’s really concerning is that this is the sort of thing that will continue to happen,” said Day.
Mayor Day mentioned that the city will be working with FEMA and MEMA on ways they can aide moving forward to come up with solutions for how to prevent flooding events in the future.
