Delaware State News
LITTLE CREEK — Crews from the Delaware Department of Transportation spent Wednesday morning investigating an apparent drainage problem that left a portion of Del. 9 between Leipsic and Little Creek under a foot of water after steady rain during the night.
The 24-hour rainfall total at Dover Air Force Base was 2.23 inches, according to Senior Airman Jeffrey Davies.
DelDOT crews routinely cruise Del. 9 from Flemings Landing to Bowers Beach after any significant rainfall, said crew member Butch Simpson, but they have never found flooding at the site before Wednesday.
Mr. Simpson said his crew arrived at about 7 a.m. to find the road under a foot of water. The flooded site is about a half-mile north of White Oak Road.
"First time this has ever happened here," he said Wednesday.
Crews remained at the site until about 1 p.m., when the water had receded enough to make the highway passable,
The highway is bordered to the east by tidal wetlands of the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge and the Little Creek Wildlife Area.
A cornfield on the eastern side of the highway and a wheat field on the western side were also flooded.
