Coastal Flood in Delaware, March 21 to 22, 1998

A coastal low pressure system helped produce some minor tidal flooding around the time of high tide during the early afternoon on the 21st and the very early morning on the 22nd. Tides averaged between 2.5 and 3.0 feet above normal and reached near 5.2 feet at Indian River Inlet and 6.8 feet at Breakwater Harbor during the high tide. The highest tides in most areas occurred with the early morning high tide on the 22nd. Since the low moved quickly, winds shifted to the northwest around sunrise on the 22nd and tidal flooding was limited to only a two tide cycle event. Winds gusted to around 45 mph along the immediate shore, but these conditions paled in comparison to the northeasters that battered the region during late January and early February. The low pressure system that caused the minor tidal flooding moved northeast from North Carolina early in the morning on the 21st, to just east of Delaware the evening of the 21st to Cape Cod the morning of the 22nd.