hurricane sandy predicted for DE as trop storm

[abwjms]

watching hurricane sandy currently predicted to come ashore as a tropical storm early Tuesday morning in DE:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphic ... e#contents

(go to http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ if that link doesn't work)

temps are supposed to be well above freezing, so the frozen slop predicted for further north probably won't be there in DE

[huynh_tb]

Fairfield at Long Neck has been ordered to evacuate by 8PM Sunday. Before leaving your home, please perform these steps:

1) Please remove any furniture, plans, or objects that are not anchored to the deck or patio. Under high force winds, they can become dangerous project tiles that potentially cause damage to your or neighbor's properties. Please help your neighbor's if they are not home.

2) Just in-case if the garage is flooded, please shut-off the electric to water heater, air conditioning unit, and outlets. Water may cause a potential fire hazard or deadly electrical shock.

3) Use your judgment to be safe during the evacuation

Update of the Hurricane Sandy at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
Readiness Tips from FEMA at http://www.ready.gov/hurricanes

[huynh_tb]

As of 11am Monday 10/29/2012, Fairfield has become an island. Surround communities are flooded.

Here are the link to photos of the area, courtesy of Patrick Miller, Indian River Fire Department
http://www.irvfc.com/gallery.cfm?id=1199

Thanks to Doug Nichols, SeaScape Property Management for these update

From: dnichols@seascapepm.com
To: dnichols@seascapepm.com
Subject: Fairfield Storm Update
Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2012 18:04:19 -0400

Hello All,

I guess you might say we are in the calm before the storm. Inland, where I live, the wind maybe gusts up to about 15-20 mph and the rain has been inconsistent and misty to drizzling at best.

Along the coast, the ocean is quite tumultuous, but the bay is still very calm. The winds along the ocean coast are about a constant 15 mph gusting to 30-35 mph as of 3pm. The bay side gusts up to maybe 20 mph.

Rt 1 is closed between Dewey and Bethany as it flooded early this morning, actually catching a State Trooper off guard. Their cruiser will need to be recovered after the storm. There are no other road closures we are aware of at this time. All local schools are closed through at least Tuesday. We also have word that Waste Industries has suspended trash service for at least the next two days as well.

A State of Emergency has been declared by the Governor stating all areas within ¾ miles of the coastline are required to be evacuated BY 8pm tonight, not STARTING at 8pm tonight. The areas are described in the State of Emergency listed at the following website: http://dema.delaware.gov/

Lewes Beach, east of the Rehoboth Lewes canal

Flood-prone areas within ¾ of a mile of the coast in the following communities:
Henlopen Acres, Rehoboth Beach, Dewey Beach, North Bethany, Bethany Beach, South Bethany, Fenwick Island

Areas surrounding the Rehoboth Bay, Indian River and Little Assawoman Bay
Flood-prone areas south of Route 24 (John J. Williams Highway) including Angola, Long Neck and Oak Orchard
Flood-prone areas along Route 26 (Vines Creek Road and Atlantic Avenue)
Flood-prone areas along Route 54 (Lighthouse Road)

Also listed on that site are the location of shelters, Sandy information phone numbers and other very useful information. You should check it frequently as the State of Emergency is updated.

At this time there is no restriction on traveling, this may change at any time. Currently, the full storm, with Hurricane Force Winds, is due to make land fall at noon tomorrow, Monday, October 29, 2012.

Stay safe everyone. We will try and get out one more time to the communities; some time tomorrow morning for one last update until after the storm.

Thank You,
Doug Nichols

A later update

From: dnichols@seascapepm.com
To: dnichols@seascapepm.com
Subject: Fairfield Storm Update
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:59:21 -0400

Hello all,

We did manage to get out this morning and visit most of our communities. Others we received updates from residents. As of noon, everyone has electric from Dagsboro to West Fenwick and Bethany and from Milton to Georgetown to Lewes, Rehoboth and Millsboro. All places near your home which normally flood during bad rain storms are flooded currently. At this point, if you have not evacuated, you are pretty much resigned to that decision.

The conditions have significantly deteriorated over the past 2 hours. Wind gusts inland are now in the 40 mph range. Water is breaking the dunes in Rehoboth and high tide will most likely cause significant damage to the Boardwalk. Long Neck Road is impassible beyond Leisure Point, and was previously impassible beyond White House Beach as of about 9am where Dukes Boats (now Caswell Plumbing) and Mariners Cove are two feet under water and there was at least a foot of water across Long Neck Road at that location as the Indian River Bay and Rehoboth Bay are shaking hands.

Rt. 1 is doing great except the closure between Dewey and Bethany. The inlet bridge has NOT collapsed, several friends from up north have asked me this so I thought I would include it. There is also a rumor that the pier in Ocean City MD collapsed, this is also untrue or at least unconfirmed (not on any of the local news). Lewes is flooded from the canal to the Delaware Bay and Bethany is flooded from Rt. 1 to the ocean.

The storm is now just about centered on the Delaware Bay. It is now forecasted to hit land around 8pm as opposed to midnight to 2am as forecasted earlier today. This will correspond almost directly with high tide in Rehoboth, Bethany, Little Assawoman Bay and Rehoboth Bay. This means we should see a big surge at that time.

We will be out as soon as possible to ascertain specific storm damage in each of our communities. We will notify individual home owners of any damage to their home at that time. We have made arrangements with several vendors to ensure we are at the top of their list for cleanup. We will move as quickly as possible to accomplish all of this as we are sure everyone will be most anxious for information and action.

Attached is a picture of the boat yard and entrance as of 10am. As of now, Fairfield still has electric and is not currently flooded. The bay is about 2ft from the back of the buildings along the wetlands.

Thank You,
Doug Nichols
SeaScape Property Management

[huynh_tb]

Pictures of the effects of "Sandy" at Fairfield compliments of Bob McLucas

[abwjms]

thanks all for that info, it's reassuring. one more tide cycle to get through tonight ? all stay safe and in touch