Storm Surge and Winter Storm in Delaware, February 16 to 17, 2003

The most powerful storm to affect Delaware since the Blizzard of 1996 struck during the President's Day Weekend. Snow spread from south to north during the pre-dawn on Sunday the 16th. The heaviest snow fell during the daylight hours of the 16th. Precipitation started mixing with and changing to sleet from south to north during the evening of the 16th. In Sussex County, precipitation changed to freezing rain during the second half of the evening and even changed to plain rain toward and along the coast around midnight EST. Similar precipitation types fell overnight. Precipitation changed back to all snow before it ended during the day on the 17th in New Castle County. It remained a mixed bag before it ended during the afternoon of the 17th in Kent County and changed back to a mixture of freezing rain, sleet and rain before it ended the same afternoon in Sussex County. Governor Ruth Ann Minner declared a state of emergency during the morning of the 16th. Only vehicles for emergency and snow clearing operations were permitted on the roadways. Bidding laws were suspended for snow purchases. Public transportation was halted and roads and bridges may be closed at any time. Abandoned vehicles were towed at the owner's expense. Unauthorized drivers were ticketed. Shelters were opened to house people affected by the coastal flooding. The National Guard sent in troops and donated Humvees to help clear the roads. The National Guard also assisted emergency personnel with transporting doctors and nurses to and from hospitals. Many malls and movie theaters either closed early or never opened on the 16th. Malls, businesses, universities, schools and shopping centers were closed on the 17th which was a federal holiday - President's Day. Businesses and universities started to reopen on the 18th. The State of Emergency was lifted at 6 a.m. EST on the 18th, except in the city of Wilmington. There was no public transportation or schools open on the 18th. Funerals and elective surgical procedures were cancelled. Organizers had to postpone scheduled events. Life returned closer to normal as the week continued. Numerous accidents occurred when the storm began on the 16th. After that, the timing of the storm (during the holiday weekend) kept the number of accidents and rescues down. The fluffy nature of the snow led to few power outages. Most were caused by vehicles crashing into utility poles. The worst damage from the storm was caused by the weight of the snow and sleet which caused numerous roof collapses. No serious injuries were reported. Moderate tidal flooding occurred and affected South Bethany (Sussex County), particularly residents on Ocean Drive the worst. Service on the Cape May/Lewes Ferry was suspended from the afternoon of the 16th through the morning of the 18th. In New Castle County on the 16th, there were fifty-three accidents and two hundred forty-four disabled vehicles through 1 p.m. EST. The roof of an apartment complex in New Castle collapsed. Public transportation was restored on the 19th. In Kent County, shelters were opened for low lying areas. Flights in and out of Dover Air force Base were cancelled through the 20th. Road crews had a hard time keeping secondary and tertiary roads clear with drifts that reached four feet. They started to make headway on the 18th. Hundreds of abandoned vehicles complicated the road clearing. Schools reopened on the 20th. Several major roof collapses occurred in and around Dover. An 80,000 square foot section of the Client Logic Warehouse's roof collapsed. A roof collapse at the Dover Skating Rink destroyed its lockers and bathrooms. At the Air Force Base, a storage facility's roof collapsed and damaged supplies that were destined for the Middle East and Europe. In Sussex County, road crews had similar problems keeping back roads opened prior to the 19th due to four foot drifts and hundreds of abandoned vehicles. Government offices were closed through the 18th and many schools were closed through the 19th. While wind gusts reached to around 50 mph during the height of the storm early on the 17th, less than thirty power outages were reported. Moderate tidal flooding occurred with the morning high tide on the 17th. In Rehoboth Beach, steps to the boardwalk were washed away and its boardwalk boards were loosened. In Dewey Beach, waves crested four dunes and spilt onto Delaware State Route 1. It was closed between Dewey Beach and Bethany Beach the morning of the 17th. South Bethany bore the brunt of the damage. Breaches in the dune line on the north side reached six feet wide. Ocean Drive was heavily damaged by tidal flooding. Debris, sand and water littered the road. All side streets leading from the ocean to Delaware State Route 1 were flooded. Oceanfront homes sustained damage from the waves. The National Guard assisted in the evacuation of twenty people from five homes. In Indian River Bay, minor tidal flooding prompted a recommended evacuation in Oak Orchard and Long Neck. Delaware State Route 24 in Pot Nets was flooded. Specific accumulations included 24.3 inches in Bear (New Castle County), 23.0 inches in Newark (New Castle County), 21.0 inches in Dover (Kent County), 20.0 inches in Harrington (Kent County), 19.5 inches in Wilmington (New Castle County), 13.0 inches in Milton (Sussex County) and Rehoboth Beach (Sussex County), 12 inches in Millsboro and Long Neck (Sussex County), 11 inches in Dewey Beach and Georgetown (Sussex County) and 8 inches in Bethany Beach (Sussex County). The peak wind gust at Lewes was 48 mph and in Georgetown was 44 mph. The morning high tide on the 17th at Breakwater Harbor (Sussex County) reached 7.70 feet above mean lower low water. The low pressure system which helped cause the heavy snow formed to the lee of the southern Rockies on the 14th. It moved to southern Missouri by the morning of the 15th, the lower Tennessee Valley the morning of the 16th, reformed off the Virginia coast the morning of the 17th and was southeast of Cape Cod on the 18th. Of equal or greater importance was a large high pressure system that moved over nearby Canada and northern New England throughout this event. This locked very cold air in place, slowed the low pressure system down and prevented it from going farther north thus leaving Delaware on the snowier side of the system. Warm air did move in aloft between 5,000 and 10,000 feet and was the reason the snow changed to sleet and freezing rain during the evening and overnight on the 16th.