Sussex County

An unnamed storm that lashed the area with high winds and heavy rain late last week caused significant beach erosion and flooding along the Delaware coast and inland bays. The late-September storm, despite falling during hurricane season and exhibiting counterclockwise rotation, was not classified as a tropical system but as simply a low-pressure system and therefore was not named.

The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT), along with the citizen-member Council on Transportation (COT), the Dover/Kent Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), the Wilmington Area Planning Council (WILMAPCO) and Sussex County held three 6-year Capital Transportation Program (CTP) hearings recently the first on Thursday, Sept. 11, in Georgetown.

Delaware’s Division of Public Health (DPH) and Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) announced this week that they have increased monitoring of water samples at the Sussex County Industrial Airpark.

The Sussex County Emergency Operations Center mid-week was monitoring a developing storm system off the eastern United States that threatened to bring heavy rain, gusty winds, and prolonged higher-than-normal tides to the region for the next several days.

After a competitive start to this year’s election season, the results of Sept. 9’s primary voting are in for the state of Delaware – and, for many candidates, it was a close one.

Update, Sept. 6, 7:14 p.m. -- With Tropical Storm Hanna clear of the Delmarva Peninsula as late afternoon and evening arrived on Saturday, residents and visitors alike turned out by the dozens to check out the storm-tossed waves of the Atlantic and see what, if any, damage had been left in the storm's wake. By and large, the answer to that question was none -- a puddle here, a pile of pinecones and twigs there, and mild to moderate erosion to the front sections of the area's reconstructed beaches.

The Sussex County Emergency Operations Center is continuing to monitor the movement of Tropical Storm Hanna, which is forecast to track along the East Coast this weekend and bring gusty winds and heavy rain to Delaware. Forecasters expect Tropical Storm Hanna to pass just to the east of Delaware’s coast on Saturday. However, as the storm’s center moves northward, the system is expected to reach far enough inland to spread heavy rain and strong winds across Sussex County. Rainfall amounts of 3 to 5 inches, with winds up to 40 mph, are possible. Gusts could reach 50 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

Officials at the Sussex County Emergency Operations Center announced Wednesday that they were closely monitoring Tropical Storms Hanna, Ike and Josephine in the Atlantic Ocean.

Delaware Electric Cooperative is asking all Delaware Electric Co-op members to voluntarily conserve or limit energy usage between the hours of 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, when its membership is expected to be using the greatest amount of electricity and, as a result, when the cooperative expects to be purchasing power from the market at extremely high prices.

“This whole thing has been one miracle after another” said the Rev. Rich Evans of the new Bayside Chapel and the Samaritan Thrift Shop near Fenwick Island. “In the past two years, this church has gone from a dream to a reality by the power of God!”

The Millville Volunteer Fire Company will be holding a Texas Holdem Poker Tournament on Saturday, Aug. 23, at its firehouse on Route 26. Entry fee is $100, with two $25 re-buys available.

Doors open at 6 p.m.

Dealing begins at 7 p.m. You must be 21 or older to attend. Up to $80,00 in prize money paid out depending on player participation.

El Centro Cultural is inviting the public once again to attend Festival Hispano. This year, the community event will be held on Sunday, Aug. 24, in Millsboro. Festival Hispano will start at noon and last until 6 p.m. The event is free for the whole family and located at the Little League Complex on State Street in Millsboro.

DNREC’s Environmental Crimes Unit recently released statistics on its investigations into violations of Delaware’s air, waste and water pollution laws for the first six months of 2008. Enforcement officers handled a total of 1,958 complaints statewide, with illegal dumping complaints up 11 percent over the same period last year.

The lines between properties and what features can separate them are far less blurry than before, thanks to Sussex County Council’s adoption of a new buffer ordinance amendment.

In a surprising move, three incumbent Sussex County councilmen announced this week that they would not seek reelection.

The announcement came on Tuesday, July 22, just prior to their regularly scheduled council meeting in Georgetown.

After Dec. 31, 2008, Councilmen Dale Dukes, Finley Jones and Lynn Rogers, all Democrats, will no longer sit on county council.

The Route 26 roadway improvement project planned for the 4 miles between St. George’s Church in Clarksville and the Assawoman Canal is now expected to begin in 2011 and conclude in 2014, according to the Delaware Department of Transportation’s (DelDOT’s) current schedule and funding, with work slated to be completed in one-mile sections.

U.S. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) had harsh words Monday about President George W. Bush’s announcement that morning that he had lifted an executive ban on offshore oil drilling and encouraging Congress to do likewise. Biden, in the backdrop of Cape Henlopen State Park, said lifting the ban would make no difference in gas prices and is a step in the wrong direction as a nation.

There’s no guarantee that this hurricane season will be as quiet for the United States as the past two seasons and the nation needs to be ready, according to the American Red Cross. Fewer than expected U.S. landfalls over the past two years, they said, may have lulled some people into a false sense of security but it is known that being prepared can save lives and property during a disaster.

With a contract for the design and construction of the new Indian River Inlet Bridge expected to be awarded in July, Skanska USA Civil Southeast Inc. is the apparent winning design-build team for the project, which could start construction in early fall, to carry traffic no later than December 2011.

With a contract for the design and construction of the new Indian River Inlet Bridge expected to be awarded in July, Skanska USA Civil Southeast Inc. is the apparent winning design-build team for the project, which could start construction in early fall, to carry traffic no later than December 2011.

An ambulance crash early Tuesday morning claimed two lives, including that of 31-year-old Sussex County paramedic Stephanie L. Callaway, the first line-of-duty death the Sussex County Medical Service has seen since the program’s start nearly two decades ago.

UPDATED: A paramedic and her patient were killed in a single-vehicle crash on Route 24 near Rehoboth Beach in the early hours of Tuesday morning, June 17, after the ambulance swerved to avoid a deer.

The first official heat wave of summer 2008 continued Tuesday to sizzle the mid-Atlantic region, where temperatures were expected to top 100 degrees and could lead to a variety of health and safety issues, from heat exhaustion to power interruptions.

Photos from the May 12-13 storm are shown in slideshow format below, with newer photos toward the end. All photos are copyright © Coastal Point, LLC, and may not be used without express permission of the Coastal Point.

The Delaware State Police and Department of Transportation reopened Route 1 between Dewey Beach and Fred Hudson Road/Road 360 north of Bethany Beach and the Indian River Inlet Bridge late Tuesday afternoon, following a detailed inspection of the inlet and surrounding roadways. Remaining closed Tuesday, due to high water, were: Fred Hudson Road in the area of Route 1 and Old Mill Road in Millville, as well as several other roads in the Lewes, Slaughter Beach and Oak Orchard areas.

On Thursday, May 22, the Indian River School District will host a current-expense referendum for the purpose of generating additional local funding for operating expenses, salaries and the implementation of full-day kindergarten.

MHDC, southern Delaware’s largest non-profit provider of affordable housing, has agreed to take on assets and program responsibilities of Interfaith Mission of Sussex County.

“In this time of crisis for affordable housing in Sussex County, we did not want to see the important programs and projects of Interfaith be lost,” said David Moore, president and CEO of MHDC.

Sussex County is going green this March, but it’s not on account of St. Patty’s Day. County Administrator David B. Baker announced Tuesday, March 11, that all County operations this month will begin recycling office waste, from copier paper and cardboard boxes to bottles and bags, through a partnership with the Delaware Solid Waste Authority (DSWA).

Though the prospect of partial road closures raised deep concerns in area businesspeople when the project was announced last year, it has been business pretty much as usual along Route 26 since the start of the Millville sewer project on Jan. 2. And, for the most part, business owners are happy to see what is happening with the project — even if it is fleetingly inconvenient.

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