State of Delaware

Last Thursday, state officials met with representatives from the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in a briefing to explain what the organizations are doing to prepare the state for natural and manmade disasters, including hurricanes, storms, floods and more.

Flags throughout the state were lowered to half-staff this week, marking the death on Tuesday, June 23, of Delaware Senate President Pro Tempore Thurman G. Adams Jr., a Bridgeville Democrat who had represented the 19th senate legislative district – the towns of Georgetown, Milton, Ellendale, Bridgeville, Greenwood, their environs and the area north of Millsboro – for 37 years.

Sussex Smiles recently gave a $7,000 donation to Delmarva Rural Ministries for their dental services at their Kent Community Health Center.

Delaware State Police have identified the body of a man who was found on a beach near Rehoboth on Thursday. Troopers have identified the victim as Oliver Shockley, 34, of Milford.

Weather permitting; the Mosquito Control Section of the State of Delaware is planning insecticide application during daylight hours on Wednesday, June 10, and Thursday, June 11, 2009.

Teachers at Lord Baltimore Elementary School participated in Bell to Bell Week on Tuesday, May 19, and Wednesday, May 20, as a show of solidarity against Gov. Jack Markell’s proposed 8 percent pay cut to state workers, including public school teachers.

Two of three patients who were adversely affected after receiving the drug heparin from premixed IV bags at Beebe Medical Center in Lewes around May 8 died. The hospital has since been cooperating with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Baxter International Inc., the drug’s manufacturer, in an investigation.

Coastal flood advisory for Delaware beaches
Issued by the National Weather Service
Philadelphia, Pa., 2:27 p.m. EDT, Wed., Apr. 15, 2009

... Coastal flood advisory in effect from 10 p.m. this evening to 6 a.m. EDT Thursday...

The National Weather Service in Mount Holly, N.J. has issued a coastal flood advisory... which is in effect from 10 p.m. this evening to 6 a.m. EDT Thursday.

UPDATED: The Department of Transportation advised motorists on Tuesday, April 14, that sheetpile driving would be occurring on the new Indian River Inlet Bridge this week and would require the closure of the right lane of Route 1 southbound through the work zone. The lane closure was to be in effect Tuesday, April 14, through Friday, April 24.

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
939 AM EDT MON APR 6 2009

The Indian River School District will host a Pre-School Family Night on Thursday, March 26, at Millsboro Middle School. The event will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Families and daycare providers in the Indian River School District are being invited to attend. Parents are being encouraged to bring their pre-school child to enjoy an interactive and informative evening.

The Delaware State Police announced Thursday, March 26, that they are being inundated with telephone calls regarding a text message that has been circulating throughout Central and Southern Delaware and portions of Maryland.

Issued by the National Weather Service, Philadelphia, Pa., 5:40 a.m.:

A winter storm warning remains in effect until 2 p.m.

The Delaware State Police arrested Derrick W. Durst, 25, of Rehoboth Beach, on Tuesday, after he voluntarily turned himself into detectives at Troop 4 at 11:30 a.m. Durst was wanted in connection with an attempted robbery of the Rite Aid pharmacy in Millville on Thursday, Feb. 5.

In the Coastal Point office, tacked to a wall, is a diagram of the Indian River Inlet, labeled “Construction Update: Beginning May 2006.” The diagram marks areas of planned closure and construction for the state park, campground and marina area near the bridge over the inlet, as officials prepared for the planned replacement of the failing bridge.

The Delaware State Police are seeking the public’s help in locating a 41-year-old Millville man wanted in connection to a Failure to Stop at the Command incident and home-improvement fraud.

Issued by the National Weather Service, Philadelphia, Pa., 3:35 p.m. EST, Wed., Jan. 28, 2009
... Dense fog advisory now in effect until 8 p.m. EST this evening...

A 21-year-old Seaford man died in a fiery single-car crash that closed the northbound lanes of Route 1 in Bethany Beach for several hours early on Monday morning, after he fled from Ocean City, Md., police. Delaware State Police reported Monday that Elijah L. Foreman Jr. had failed to negotiate a curve in the road at Jefferson Bridge Road while traveling at high speed in a vehicle about 2:05 a.m.

Gov. Ruth Ann Minner announced Monday that she will appoint former Biden Chief of Staff Ted Kaufman to the U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated by Vice President-Elect Joe Biden.

The Department of Transportation is advising motorists that Delaware Electric Cooperative (DEC) will be replacing electric lines on Route 1/Coastal Highway south of Five Points in the area of Shady Road and Marsh Road near Rehoboth Beach on Sunday and that traffic will be affected.

Organizers of Sussex County’s annual Return Day festivities in Georgetown confirmed Wednesday, Nov. 5, that Vice-President-Elect and Delaware U.S. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. will be attending this year’s event.

The votes are in!

An unnamed storm that lashed the area with high winds and heavy rain late last week caused significant beach erosion and flooding along the Delaware coast and inland bays. The late-September storm, despite falling during hurricane season and exhibiting counterclockwise rotation, was not classified as a tropical system but as simply a low-pressure system and therefore was not named.

Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) Secretary Carolann Wicks, state and local officials, residents and others were on hand at a Sept. 17 event to unveil the design for a new bridge over the Indian River Inlet and present the selected design/build team — Skanska USA Civil Southeast — to the public.

On Sept. 19, DNREC Secretary John A. Hughes and Roger L. Jones Jr., Delaware Chapter state director of The Nature Conservancy, joined property donor Austin F. “Pete” Okie of Georgetown to dedicate a property of 118 acres, containing tidal salt marsh, wetlands, coastal forest and fields, on Indian River Bay as the Marian R. Okie Memorial Wildlife Preserve.

The Sussex County Emergency Operations Center mid-week was monitoring a developing storm system off the eastern United States that threatened to bring heavy rain, gusty winds, and prolonged higher-than-normal tides to the region for the next several days.

After a competitive start to this year’s election season, the results of Sept. 9’s primary voting are in for the state of Delaware – and, for many candidates, it was a close one.

Update, Sept. 6, 7:14 p.m. -- With Tropical Storm Hanna clear of the Delmarva Peninsula as late afternoon and evening arrived on Saturday, residents and visitors alike turned out by the dozens to check out the storm-tossed waves of the Atlantic and see what, if any, damage had been left in the storm's wake. By and large, the answer to that question was none -- a puddle here, a pile of pinecones and twigs there, and mild to moderate erosion to the front sections of the area's reconstructed beaches.

The Sussex County Emergency Operations Center is continuing to monitor the movement of Tropical Storm Hanna, which is forecast to track along the East Coast this weekend and bring gusty winds and heavy rain to Delaware. Forecasters expect Tropical Storm Hanna to pass just to the east of Delaware’s coast on Saturday. However, as the storm’s center moves northward, the system is expected to reach far enough inland to spread heavy rain and strong winds across Sussex County. Rainfall amounts of 3 to 5 inches, with winds up to 40 mph, are possible. Gusts could reach 50 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

The Delaware State Police are investigating a serious crash that injured a 15-year-old boy early Sunday morning and are now looking for another passenger who was apparently injured.