Storm of '62 50th Anniversary, 1962-2012

50th Anniversary: 1962-2012

DELAWARE’S GREAT NOR’EASTER

DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Three days of unrelenting wind, water, waves

Storm of '62 etched in deaths, more than $50 million in storm Delaware Bay coastal towns were cut off tures that are not normally hit during
Cape Region history damage, $20 million in repair costs for the from inland areas with flood waters of storms,” said Wendy Carey, coastal haz-
damaged beach, $20 million in personal more than 4 feet. ards specialist with the Delaware Sea
By Ron MacArthur property losses and destroyed businesses Grant program.
[email protected] along the coast. In today's dollars, the to- A family of six was lost in South Bow-
tal losses would be more than $500 mil- ers Beach when their car was overtaken After the storm, police and Delaware
It's the storm all others are compared lion. by water as they attempted to flee the Army and Air National Guard were
to, yet those who lived through the Storm area. Another person who refused to called in to keep people away and
of '62 find it hard to compare it to any- Nearly 2,000 homes sustained damage evacuate died in Slaughter Beach. prevent looting.
thing else. Fifty years have done little to in Dewey Beach, South Bethany, Bethany
diminish the memories of people affected Beach and Fenwick Island. Wave action Most coastal roads were impassable as Carey went to see the storm damage as
by the massive storm. destroyed 28 of 29 oceanfront homes in the dunes were destroyed, leaving 4 feet a child. “I remember finding shiny bath-
Bethany, as well as every oceanfront of sand along Route 1. The Boardwalk, room tiles buried in the sand like little
Fifty years ago – during the first week home in South Bethany. which had been in place without damage treasures,” she said. “You could find
of March – the Storm of the Century hit for nearly 80 years, was splintered be- everything including the kitchen sink.”
the Cape Region coast with unrelenting The ocean swept straight through to yond recognition. Many Rehoboth Beach
fury. A 1,000-mile wide nor'easter, the the bay in Dewey Beach. Sand covered landmarks – Dolle's, Pink Pony cocktail The makings of a perfect storm
storm lingered off the coast for five con- Route 1 – then Route 14 – from Dewey lounge, Belhaven Hotel, Atlantic Sands The Storm of '62 – also known as the
secutive high tides. The oceanfront dune Beach to Indian River Inlet and beyond, Hotel, Playland (now Funland), Henlopen
system from Maryland to Cape Henlopen leaving the highway impassable. Hotel, Stuart-Kingston Gallery – were ei- Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 – had all
was flattened. ther completely destroyed or badly dam- the makings of a perfect storm. It was un-
Damage was not confined to the coast- aged. Other oceanfront hotels and homes usual in its development, makeup and be-
Three days of pounding surf, storm line as unprecedented high tides drove were ripped off their foundations; some havior.
surge and seemingly endless extreme water inland to create the worst floods in were laid open with doors and curtains
high tides brought heavy losses: seven memory. Downtown Milton, Millsboro hanging in the breeze. Three low-pressure systems formed
and Milford were flooded; the water had off the East Coast, held in place by a
nowhere to go because low-tide water re- “Huge waves superimposed on the high-pressure system over eastern
mained at normal high-tide levels. storm surge were able to break on struc- Canada, Carey said. The high-pressure

Page design by Jen Ellingsworth

STORM STORIES

Saved the taffy machine
Dolle's on The Boardwalk in Rehoboth
Beach was destroyed by the storm, yet
the new owners were able to salvage
the long taffy machine. A crane had to
lift the 3,500-pound piece of
equipment. That same taffy machine is
in use today.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MARIE QUILLEN Stormy is born
A sequel to one
Playland, now called Funland, received extensive damage, but the steel foundation held up. of the most
popular
children's books
of all time has
its roots in the
Storm of '62.
Shortly after the
storm, Misty,
the famous
Chincoteague,
Va., pony gave
birth to a foal
named Stormy. The foundation was in
place for another book in Marguerite
Henry's award-winning Misty of
Chincoteague series. The new book
was named “Stormy, Misty's Foal.”
Nearby at Assateague Island, the storm
caused so much damage a developer
called off plans for a 5,000-lot resort
community on the island. Three years
later the island was named a National
Seashore.

Prisoners were used to help clear debris from the sand along the Cape Diamonds are recovered
Region coastline. A safe belonging to Stuart-Kingston
Galleries in Rehoboth Beach with
$75,000 in diamonds was recovered in
the sand following the storm.

Work starts toward restoration amid the ruins of The Boardwalk in Rehoboth » See more coverage of the Storm of ‘62 in the Tuesday, March 6 edition and at capegazette.com
Beach. In the distance is Playland (now Funland), one of the few structures
left standing.

system stalled any movement area bears hardly any resem- sand so much that foundations Events commemorate anniversary
of the coastal storm, resulting blance to what it looked like gave way and houses tumbled
in record-setting winds, waves in 1962. The Boardwalk was a over. As much as 10 feet of sand The Delaware Division of Other events
and tides. popular destination for tourists washed away in some areas, Natural Resources and Envi- 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 6 -
and locals, but that is about the Carey said. ronmental Control’s Division
The nor ‘easter stalled through extent of any comparisons. of Watershed Stewardship will Filmmaker Michael Oates, 302
a cycle of five high tides. When it was all over and done, sponsor a workshop Wednes- Stories, Inc. will introduce
Most of the area around to- work crews had to move nearly 2 day, March 7 commemorating “The ’62 Storm – Delaware’s
The tides and waves are the day’s Route 1 was still farm fields; million cubic yards of sand that the Storm of ’62. Shared Response” in Cannon
highest ever recorded in the very few people lived around had washed away, to rebuild the Room 104, University of
Cape Region. Wind speeds the Inland Bays; Lewes was un- coastline. “Delaware Coastal Vulnera- Delaware Hugh R. Sharp
reached 60 mph; tides reached discovered as a tourist spot; and bility and Sustainability – 1962 Campus in Lewes,. This
a maximum of nearly 9.5 feet – only a few hundred people lived Carey said it was amazing to 2062” will take place at the evening screening has been
normal high tide is 4 feet – and in the affected area year-round. how quickly the area recovered; Rehoboth Beach Convention scheduled to accommodate
wave heights reached 30 to 40 the Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk Center, beginning at 8:30 a.m. those who are unable to at-
feet offshore and 20 to 30 feet Fifty years ago, development was nearly completed and most Cosponsoring the workshop tend the March 7 daytime
onshore. along the Delaware coast was businesses were open by early to with DNREC are the events.
sparse compared to today’s mid-summer. Delaware Sea Grant College
Sustained gale-force winds of standards. Beachfront cottages, Program and the City of Re- • 2:30 p.m., March 7 -
35 to 45 mph with much higher most at ground level on concrete The storm left behind a path hoboth. Screening of the film “The ’62
gusts blew for three straight days foundations, dotted the coast- of death and destruction from Storm – Delaware’s Shared
with no let-up. To make matters line. There were no building North Carolina to New York. In Exhibits featuring 1960s Response” at the convention
worse, the storm occurred standards for coastal home the end, as many as 40 people photographs and memorabilia center. The documentary fea-
during a time of exceptionally con-struction; very few homes died in six states; hundreds of from the storm from coastal tures firsthand accounts from
high spring tides. were elevated and there was no millions of dollars in damage had communities and historical people who lived through the
federal flood insurance, Carey been done; coastal societies also will be on dis- damaging three-day nor’east-
The high tide of nearly 9.5 said. landmarks were erased and the play at the workshop. Hazard er, often called Delaware's
feet recorded on March 6, 1962, coastline was changed forever. mitigation and storm pre- Coastal Storm of the Century
remains the highest ever record- For example, Carey said, old paredness information will be that claimed lives, homes and
ed at Breakwater Harbor at the aerial photographs from 1968 The storm dropped more than available from Delaware property along the coastline
mouth of Delaware Bay. show 53 houses located along the 3 feet of snow on Skyline Drive Emergency Management throughout the Mid-Atlantic.
beach in South Bethany, one of in Shenandoah National Park. Agency, the Federal Emer-
Rain and wind were not the the most vulnerable areas along gency Management Agency • 7:30 p.m., Friday, March 9 -
most serious problems associ- the coastline. Carey says it’s important for and other organizations. Additional screening of “The
at-ed with the storm, Carey said, people to learn and understand Workshop activities are free, ‘62 Storm - Delaware’s Shared
although there was some wind By the late 1990s that number what occurred the first week of but seating is limited.Contact Response” at the Dewey
damage caused by gusts of up to had increased to more than March in 1962. “We use history Michelle Scorziello at 645- Beach Life Saving Station.
70 mph. About 2 inches of rain 575 houses. In Fenwick Island of the storm to get people en- 4346 for information.
fell in the area. in 1954 there were 105 units; in gaged as a springboard to discuss
1997, there were nearly 725 coastal storms and hazards.
One can only wonder what units.
the extent of damage would be “We need to make folks aware
should a storm of this magnitude Ongoing wave action eroded something like this will occur
hit the Cape Region today. The again,” she said.

50th Annivers

DELAWARE’S GR

PHOTO COURTESY OF NORMAN PLACK

The large Grier House along the coast in north Rehoboth Beach is one of many that toppled over due to
foundation failure caused by erosion of sand around the houses.

The view looking north
toward the Atlantic
Sands Hotel shows the
devastation along The
Boardwalk in Rehoboth
Beach.

Dolle's and the Atlantic Sands Hotel, two Rehoboth Beach landmarks, were in ruins after the Storm of '

Remembering

The Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk took the brunt of the storm as waves and storm surge blasted the area for three straight days. Locals share memories o
monster storm in resort t

By Rachel Swick Mavity and Nick Roth
[email protected]

S haron Fisk Rose was 12 in 1962. Her family lived in R
Sport Center on Delaware Avenue, the place now kn
As part of the Rehoboth Beach Museum’s oral histor
told her story of 1962, remembering what had been a
during the three-day storm.

“The kiddie rides were devastated by that storm. A couple
weighed over 500 pounds were never found. They just disap
seen again.”

Rose’s parents were in Florida with her grandparents whe
Her grandfather was a bootlegger during Prohibition; he had
in Rehoboth Beach before it was the summer destination it

Rose stayed in Rehoboth at a friend’s house while her fam
After the storm, she tried to walk to Sport Center so she cou
damage to her parents, but she was stopped by National Gu
had closed the roads.

“I sat at the end of Delaware Avenue and looked down at
could remember sitting there and crying.”

Sport Center was to be sold to the Fasnacht family just a w
Fasnacht had talked to Rose's grandfather, Jack Dentino, thr
as he prepared to take over the business, and he remembers
call from him from Florida informing him of the news of the
traveled from Hershey, Pa., to Rehoboth the next day to mee

sary: 1962-2012

REAT NOR’EASTER

PHOTO COURTESY OF HAROLD WHITE

Another Rehoboth Beach landmark, Stuart Kingston Galleries, broke up and slid off its foundation into the
sand.

DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PHOTOS Debris, including wood from The Boardwalk and buildings, was piled up following the storm.
'62.

g Rehoboth Beach in ‘62 At21,JaySteinwasayoungmaninhisprime.Hehadalreadystartedwork-
ing in his parent’s auction house – Stuart Kingston – on the Boardwalk.
He remembers his family had never been away from the store very long be-
fore 1962 – nor any time since 1962.
It happened that in March 1962, his father decided to pack up about 95 per-
cent of the items in the auction house and ship them to Florida for a sale
through another auction house.
of sess the damage. “This building totally was destroyed. I remember the safe washed up on the
town “The thing I remember most is that I saw no evidence of the storm any-
beach,” Stein said.
where coming into town. I didn't see any branches down, wires down or trees “We were back open for business in August,” Stein said. “I remember the
down until 50 to 75 feet off the Boardwalk,” he said. “Then it was utter destruc-
tion.” Boardwalk and much of the other damage was repaired quickly and open again
in July. Things seemed to get done faster then.”
The only portion of Sport Center that remained somewhat intact was the
front corner where Dentino started the park in 1939 with a spill-the-milk game. Evelyn Dick Thoroughgood was in her 40s in 1962. She still lives in the same
The reason it survived was that Dentino dug the foundation deep enough, house she lived in then, on Bayard Avenue in Rehoboth Beach.
“There was no evacuation then – it was just another storm,” Thoroughgood
Rehoboth and ran something he was mocked for at the time.
nown as Funland. “Mr. Dentino scooped out the foundation with a mule and a scoop,” Fasnacht said. “I remember there were a lot of storms back then.”
ry project, Rose said. Now in her 90s, Thoroughgood
and what changed “In doing that, he got low enough that the erosion [barely af- remembers vividly her childhood
in Rehoboth. Even though the
“There was nofected it]. Mr. Dentino remembers his cronies watching him and storm took out much of the
saying, 'Where are you going, to China?'” Boardwalk and shops, her house
e Dodgem cars that wasn’t damaged.
ppeared, not to be evacuation then.”But it worked to his advantage. The building sank only a little She said National Guardsmen
en the storm hit. bit and was more than salvageable.
ad eventually settled The storm not only created destruction that has yet to be seen “It was just another storm. I were stationed on the street in
is today. again in this area, but it also made for a poor summer of '62. front of her house to discourage
mily was in Florida. “We didn't do much business that year because everyone remember there were a lot of looters.
uld report on the thought the place was utter destruction,” he said. “The first sum- “I remember we had television
uard members. They - Evelyn Dick Thoroughgood,
storms back then.”mer was slow, and understandably so.” Rehoboth Beach aerials on our roof and they
The Fasnachts have since taken precautions to safeguard Fun-
land from any major destruction if such a storm were to hit again. weren’t even bent,” she said. “The
storm only damaged the first 50 feet from the Boardwalk.”
Funland, and I They've installed 20-foot piles under the foundation, which is seven to eight “The largest storm of my lifetime definitely was March of ’62,” said Connie
feet below the level of the Boardwalk.
But even the best precautions are never a guarantee, he said. Catts, wife of Dick Catts, in her oral history at the Rehoboth museum.
week later. Allen “When the storm hit in '62, the old-timers making the observations said “When I went down the next day on the Boardwalk, it was devastated. Like
roughout the winter killer storms occur about every 50 years,” he said.
s receiving a phone “You can imagine last August when Hurricane Irene started churning up the the Atlantic Sands, the front of the buildings were gone, some whole buildings
e destruction. He were gone, and it was just a really, really bad storm … the worst I remember.”

et Dentino and as- coast.”

50th Anniversary: 1962-2012

DELAWARE’S GREAT NOR’EASTER

PHOTO COURTESY OF NORMAN ROSSITER

THE ATLANTIC OCEAN AND REHOBOTH BAY meet as Dewey Beach is
flooded during the Storm of '62.

Dewey Beach:PART2: SPECIALREPORT Where the ocean met the bay

Homes crushed every building along the ocean was dam- down for business after Labor Day, so Quillen-Dougherty said people living
by high surf, surge aged, undermined by erosion or de- very few people lived in the town year- on the beach side of town had to contend
stroyed. “And at least 10 to 15 houses were round. Quillen-Dougherty estimates that with sand while people living on the bay
By Ron MacArthur washed out to sea,” she said. about 50 to 75 people lived in Dewey side had to deal with thick mud washed
[email protected] All that remained of her uncle's house Beach all year; it hasn't really changed up from the bay. She remembers helping
on New Orleans that much because her aunt shovel sand out of her kitchen.
In 1962, Dewey Beach was a sleepy “The housesStreet was a water today's year-round “Rehoboth Beach firemen came in to
summer town with a few hotels, stores population is hose off mud from businesses and houses
and cottages. Parts of the town were pipe, although the on the bay side,” she said.
prone to flooding during any heavy rain cinder-block garage about 300 people.
or high tide, but the flooding March 6-8 apartment was left looked like a She said it was Quillen-Dougherty had recently turned
from the Storm of '62 was unprecedented intact. “The houses giant stepped 21 and was looking forward to celebrating
and has never been repeated since. Dur- looked like a giant on them.” amazing to see de- her legal status with a visit to the Pink
ing three days of extreme high tides, stepped on them,” bris washed up Pony along The Boardwalk in Rehoboth
storm surge and 20- to 30-foot waves, the she said. one-half block Beach. The popular nightclub was
ocean met Rehoboth Bay and flooded the along the entire washed into the Atlantic Ocean, so that
entire town. In one stretch, the stretch of Dewey dream was never realized.
current location of - Barbara Quillen-Dougherty, Beach. “There
Dramatic aerial photographs have cap- Adam's Oceanfront Rehoboth Beach were stoves, toi- Because of the debris in the ocean, her
tured the scene that is almost too bizarre Hotel, four houses lets, freezers, family, along with several others, spent
to be believed. Flooding was bad, but were swept out to sea. chairs and other furniture all mixed in the summer following the storm using
damage along the Dewey Beach beach- Quillen-Dougherty is working on a with lots of debris. Parts of houses were Silver Lake as their beach. The east side
front was devastating. presentation she will give during an event everywhere,” she said. Her mother, Marie of the lake, which wasn't developed with
to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Quillen, took an extensive treasure trove houses like it is today, had its own sandy
Barbara Quillen-Dougherty, Dewey the storm at 7:30 p.m., Friday, March 9, at of color slides a few days after the storm. beach thanks to overwash from the
Beach resident and local historian, said the Dewey Beach Life Saving Station. “It was hard to get up and down the ocean. “I heard waves were breaking into
Like neighboring Rehoboth Beach in streets to even take photos because of the the lake, but I didn't see it,” she said.
the 1960s, Dewey Beach basically shut sand and debris,” she said.
Special coverage continues on next page

Special section by Jen Ellingsworth

Film documents
firsthand
accounts of storm

Many Cape Region residents tell their sto- DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PHOTOS
ries of the Storm of '62 in the film, “The '62
Storm – Delaware's Shared Response,” writ- Several inland towns were flooded as the Storm of '62 lingered off the coast for five consecutive high tides. The best way to get around in downtown Mil-
ten, edited and produced by Michael Oates. ton was by boat.
The 55-minute film was funded by Delaware
Department of Natural Resources and Envi- PHOTO COURTESY OF MARIE QUILLEN
ronmental Control, Delaware Humanities
Forum and 302 Stories Inc. Copies are avail- Families enjoy a summer outing on a beach formed along the shore
able at area libraries. of Silver Lake between Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach.

The film will be shown at 7 p.m., Tuesday,
March 6, at the University of Delaware's
Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes and then
again at 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 7, fol-
lowing a Storm of '62 conference at the Re-
hoboth Beach Convention Center. Phone
645-4346 to make reservations or for more
information.

The '62 Storm DVD can be purchased
through the online Shop Delaware page at
http://shop.delaware.gov/product_info.php?
products_id=678. Copies will also be for sale
at the screenings in Lewes and Rehoboth
Beach.

Go to deseagrant.org/62storm2012 for
more on the Storm of '62.

Documentary to be shown by WHYY Many said the untold story of the Storm of '62 was the destruction of Delaware Bay
coastal towns, where seven people were killed. Most waterfront cottages, like
Commemorating the 50th an- pounded Delaware’s shoreline these in Bowers Beach, were destroyed.
niversary of Delaware’s greatest
natural disaster, the documen- from March 6-8, destroying
tary, “The ‘62 Storm – hundreds of oceanfront homes
Delaware’s Shared Response,” and businesses, flooding com- DID YOU KNOW?
will be broadcast at 9 p.m. munities and snatching lives.
Thursday, March 8, by WHYY Seven people were killed in March 9 – President John F. the U.S. Weather Bureau took
TV on Comcast channel 257 Delaware alone. Along with the Kennedy declared Delaware, the extraordinary step of giving
and FIOS channel 474. first-person stories of survivors, Maryland, Virginia and New it a name: "The Great Atlantic
the production uses home Jersey federal disaster areas. Storm." It is also known as
The powerful nor’easter movies, historic footage, still "Five High Storm" because it
photographs and a meteorologi- 2,000 – Number of national lingered off the coast for five
Roads to all Delaware Bay coast cal analysis of the storm to re- army and air guardsmen sent high tides. The Christian
towns were cut off early on during the create hourly unfolding of this to Kent and Sussex counties holiday of Ash Wednesday
Storm of '62. This photograph was event. The program also exam- during the storm for rescue, occurred Wednesday, March 7,
taken March 6 looking toward ines the possibility of a similar recovery and security missions. that year, the same day when
Slaughter Beach. weather event occurring again. The storm is the most the most damage occurred,
This documentary was writ- damaging on record in leading many people to call it
ten and produced by Michael Delaware. the "Ash Wednesday Storm of
Oates, 302 Stories Inc. of Wilm- 1962."
Its impact was so powerful

ington. It was funded by 302 RON MACARTHUR PHOTO » Visit us online at: www.capegazette.com
Stories Inc., DNREC, the
Delaware Humanities Forum The sign says it all. The historic flood-
ing in Lewes during the three days of
and Berkana Center for Media the Storm of '62 has never been
and Education.
equaled.

50th Anniversa

DELAWARE’S GRE

PHOTO COURTESY OF DON WIEDMANN

Above, nearly 2,000 houses
along the coast from Dewey
Beach to Fenwick Island were
damaged or destroyed.
Almost half of the Royal Surf
Hotel, left, in Dewey Beach
washed out to sea.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARIE QUILLEN

IMPACT OF THE STORM IN DELAWARE

Debris from • Powerful A NATIONAL GUARD TANK ROLLS along flooded Savannah Road toward the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal i
destroyed homes nor’easter raged
covers every March 6-8, 1962 Lewes:threedays. Flooding from
street in Dewey.
• Seven people Lewes-Rehoboth Canal spilled over into marsh
PHOTO COURTESY killed in
NEW OF MARIE QUILLEN Delaware By Ron MacArthur Special School District, went with two
CASTLE [email protected] school officials to see how bad the storm
A Bethany Beach • Storm lasted was in Rehoboth Beach to help them de-
house is broken in through five high F ifty-year-old aerial photographs cide about school cancellations in Lewes.
half exposing the tides with waves of Lewes after the Storm of '62 “Two blocks away from the ocean, we
interior. as high as 40 tell the story best. Storm surge saw a wall of water. I didn't mean to, but
feet and the highest tides on record I screamed when I saw it,” she said.
PHOTO COURTESY OF forced the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal to Brittingham said the Lewes of the
HAROLD WHITE • Wind gusts up spill over its banks and flood most of the 1960s was a much different place than it
to 70 mph beach side of the canal.
is today. Tourism was in its infancy as
• Storm People had to be evacuated, but the the town's factory image was beginning
damaged $70 damage paled in comparison to what to diminish. “Lewes was evolving into a
KENT Bowers Beach million in public took place in nearby Rehoboth Beach be- family resort,
and private tween March 6 and 8.
property “We were givand the facto-
“We still had school that first day of
• Boardwalks in the storm,” said Lewes historian Hazel ries were disap-
DELAWARE Rehoboth and Brittingham. “But it was canceled after ammo and topearing,” she
BAY Bethany beaches that because school buses couldn't get
destroyed through on many roads because of flood- said.
ing. Water came up into places it had kill any looteInto the
Slaughter Beach • Oak Orchard never come up before. But when you
recorded 2-3 feet think what had happened in Rehoboth 1960s, the town
of flood water, Beach, we thanked our lucky stars.” had garment
with waves up to and hosiery fac- - Jack A
4 feet rolling Western Auto and a nearby Acme
Primehook Beach across Delaware store along Savannah Road, just past the tories, fish fac-
Bay canal bridge, were completely surround-
Broadkill Beach ed by water. Brittingham said the high tories, a clam factory and canning facto-
Source: UD Sea Grant tide mark remained on the concrete side ries. In 1965 the last menhaden fish facto-
of the stores for many years as a re- ry closed, and a sports fishing industry
Lewes minder of the flood. In some areas, flood began, Brittingham said.
SUSSEX waters reached as high as 4 to 5 feet. Betty Hill, who lived with her husband
Rehoboth Beach ATLANTIC
OCEAN Police closed off the canal bridge to Mike on Illinois Avenue near the Lewes
keep people away from the beach. The beachfront, said the storm was enough to
Dewey Beach bridge was the only access point to the change her mind about living near the
beach because the Freeman Highway
bridge was not constructed until after beach. It wasn't long after the storm that
the storm. Brittingham, who was secre- they moved across the canal to higher
Bethany Beach tary to the superintendent of the Lewes land. She said she evacuated when water

Fenwick Island reached just below her front door.
Vicky Howard was a teenager growing
up along Lewes beach during the early
1960s. She said she and her family heard
the warnings from police and firefighters
JEN ELLINGSWORTH GRAPHIC

ary: 1962-2012

EAT NOR’EASTER

DELAWARE PUBLIC ARCHIVES PHOTO

in Lewes. High tides in Lewes were nearly 5 feet above street level and remained that way for more than

m storm was issue

to evacuate the beach the first night of National Guard activated first day of storm
the storm. “We were used to moon high Jack Argo, who lives near Rehoboth
tides and didn't think much of it,” she
said. The family went for a ride around Beach, was one of more than 2,000 Na-
Lewes to check out the situation and tional Guard and Air Guard troops on
were stopped at the canal bridge on their patrol in the Cape Region; a state of
way back home. “The National Guard emergency was called very quickly. Ar-
had set up a roadblock, and they were go said he got a call that his unit, the
not letting anyone to the beach area,” she 160th AAA in Milford, had been activat- DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PHOTO
said. “We had left our two dogs home.” ed the first day of the storm and he was
The family spent that night at the old assigned to the old Rehoboth High Most of the area on the marsh side of the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal in Lewes is flooded. Record-high tides over a
Valley of the Swans motel in downtown School. He said members of his unit three-day period forced water to overflow canal banks. At the top left of the photo is the canal bridge.
Lewes and ended up staying with friends were on patrol on all Rehoboth Beach
in Quakertown until they were allowed streets to ward off looters and keep peo- DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PHOTO
back to their home. ple away from danger. “We were on duty
But Howard was de- for two hours and off for four hours,” he On one of the first high tides, Cedar Avenue in Lewes is already flooded. Water levels continued to rise for the next
termined to get her said. “We were given live ammo and told two days.
to shoot to kill any looters.”
ven live dogs. She was able to
hitch a ride with a Na- Other military personnel were used
for search-and-rescue operations.
old to tional Guard tank
ers.” crew that was going Argo was assigned to an area along
down Bay Avenue to- Surf Avenue near the Henlopen Hotel at
Argo, National Guard ward Roosevelt Inlet the north end of The Boardwalk. “The
and Air Guard troop in an attempt to res- waves were pounding so hard, and I
cue an older couple thought the wind would never stop
who had refused to leave their home. blowing,” he said. “I saw one house after
Howard said the couple still refused to another roll into the ocean. It was like
leave, but she was able to get her dogs. bombs going off.”
“The water was about 4 feet high around
houses toward Roosevelt Inlet,” she said. He was on duty for five days. “After it
“We had about 1 1/2 feet of water in our was all over, it looked like a lumber
house. What a mess it was. We cleaned yard,” he said.
and cleaned and cleaned. Most every-
thing in the kitchen was ruined.” In fact, he said, his uncle, Dick Miller,
Howard said that experience was was able to salvage enough wood from
enough for her. “It was a crazy, scary the beach to build two cottages along
time. I made up my mind that I didn't Middlesex Beach.
want to live close to water.”
“When the water went down, we were As soon as the water subsided, Argo
back in business,” Brittingham said. said, curious onlookers started to head
toward The Boardwalk. “It was hard to
keep them away because everyone want-
ed to see what had happened,” he said.

About this Special Report

Created and published by the Cape Gazette.

Articles by
Ron MacArthur
Rachel Mavity

Nick Roth

Page design by
Jen Ellingsworth

Cover design by
Teresa Rodriguez

Editors
Laura Ritter
Jen Ellingsworth
Bernadette Hearn

Special Thanks
to all who provided the photos
and shared their experiences.

See more photos at
capegazette.com

Cape Gazette

17585 Nassau Commons Blvd.,
Lewes, DE 19958
302-645-7700
capegazette.com