Tropical Storm in Delaware, July 13, 1996

A weakening Tropical Storm Bertha passed across the state on July 13th. Hurricane Bertha made landfall near Wilmington North Carolina close to 5 p.m. EDT on the 12th and moved northnortheast overnight. At 11 p.m. EDT it was 100 miles southwest of Norfolk, at 3 a.m. EDT on the 13th it was 45 miles westsouthwest of Norfolk, at 8 a.m. EDT it was 45 miles south of Dover, at 930 a.m. EDT it was in extreme northeastern Sussex County and at 11 a.m. EDT it was near Atlantic City.While the long trip over land did weakened Bertha, some wind related damage did occur in Sussex and Kent Counties. The only tidal flooding was minor and occurred on Delaware State Route 54 near Fenwick Island, one of the most flood roads in the state. Beach erosion was minor. The tropical storm did drop between 1.5 and 3.0 inches of rain across most of the state, with locally higher amounts of around 4 inches reported by SKYWARN Spotters in Sussex County. This caused some poor drainage flooding, but the only river to flood was the Christina in New Castle County. Wind gusts reached 58 mph in Dover and 55 mph in Lewes. The strongest winds occurred between 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. EDT. Power was lost for up to 8 hours by 3,200 homes in the state; most were restored by noon EDT. Even two days before Bertha arrived rough surf resulted in 40 water rescues at Bethany Beach on the 11th. Seashore state campgrounds were closed and shelters were set up, but less than 100 persons used them. In Bethany Beach, a few poles were snapped and tree limbs came down. A Subway sign was blown away in Seaside Village. Elsewhere, there was minor wind damage reported in Kent and Sussex Counties with storage sheds suffering the most harm. Many were thrown around. Some of the worst wind related damage occurred in northwestern parts of Kent County around Clayton and Blackiston. In Clayton, downed trees blocked three roads. The roof was blown off one house and the porch roof was blown off another. Several poles were also knocked down. Flying debris caused damage to several other garages, homes and porches. Near Blackiston a 40 foot by 80 foot storage shed was destroyed. No injuries were reported.