Oak Orchard was rocked by the August monsoon of 2012

Last night we were rocked by storms, Sussex county is now waterfront property.  Everything is flooded, low spots are holding large amounts of water.  The exercise area in Pot Nets Bayside is completely full of water.  Pontoon boats were ripped from their decks last night, something no one here has ever seen before.  The pontoon boat top, was across the street, motor still attached, upside down, in someone’s yard, across from the marina.  The bottom of the boat has not been found.  I don’t think anyone knows where to start looking.  Divers were retrieving motors out of the marina.  A parking garage in Rehoboth last night filled up with 3 feet of water in no time, this morning it was completely full, and didn’t look like there was a garage, the water is ground level.  People have been posting pictures all day on Facebook, we have a few albums and videos.  There are trees down, flotsam and jetsam in the streets.  Oak Orchard is flooded at the end of the road, still close to 3 feet.  The marsh is full of water and is overflowing into the streets and trailer park.  All of the water has to drain, and unfortunately it found a way.

My buddy Mark’s house is being eroded away at the foundation by a river of flood water.  I was there this morning, checking on my old neighbor, and he said the boat ramp is washed out.  When I went to look, the boat ramp was gone, and the erosion “cliff” looked like Niagara Falls.  Mark’s driveway was eroded out a good 15 feet from the road.  The entire front yard was eroding away to his footers and foundation.  Water was pouring out of the foundation, and draining from the front of the house.  The old bulkhead wall collapsed, and his yard proceeded to wash into the bay.  He could literally bulkhead the entire area in, and make a canal.  It was actually rather surreal, having used that ramp in the past to catch bait, and launch small boats.  It is a sand ramp, no concrete.  Once the water found the only spot to drain through the ramp, it carved a huge ditch out of his yard and driveway.  the water is still draining and will continue into the morning.  The water depth, where it starts to drain from his property, is a foot deep, and there is acres of water still there.  All the neighborhoods above this area are flooded and draining into Oak Orchard.  I really feel for Mark his house is going to need a lot of work.  The electric company has pulled the meter for precaution, and it would be a good idea for the gas company to get the tanks out of the water.  I hope the state does right by Mark, and helps him out, when I was living in the neighborhood, we flooded this bad before, but for some reason this time the water wasn’t draining correctly, or the fact they received too much water in such a short time.  People are saying they haven’t seen rain this bad in a very long time, if ever.  While I was taking pictures people were catching crabs, and spot in the streets.  It has been an interesting day.

Admin 1 took some great pictures of Pot Netts Bayside, while he was doing that I checked out the beaches.  I planned on surf fishing, but was side tracked by these floods.  People were catching today, the waves were huge, white capping out front, and rolling in fast.  I took some film footage of the surf for a project, big mistake putting a camera in front of the 3r’s beach crew.  If I manage to edit it to PG-13, I will post it on Facebook.  They were celebrating Skip and Maria’s birthdays today.  I am sorry I didn’t stay that long gang, I had a lot to do, the excitement never ends it would seem.  People braved the threat of possible storms today and hit the surf, rocks, rails, piers, and bays.  Flounder were caught at Massey’s Landing.  Alan was fishing the Indian River Inlet catching bluefish.  He saw a sailboat fishing the rock wall on a hard, fast incoming tide, with a little tiny outboard motor.  The motor was only in the water half the time, thanks to the large swells and heavy current bobbing the boat up and down.  That is probably the least safe thing, I have heard anyone doing, so far.  Best part is … John says he has seen them out there nearly a week, and they almost rolled the boat once.  Not a smart way to fish, by any means.  Despite a nasty storm, people did enjoy themselves this weekend.  Last year we were dealing with an earthquake, tornado, and hurricane, all in one week.  The August storm of 2012 produced more rain than Hurricane Irene, and filled up our quota for the summer in one night.

On Saturday Brian Dunkelberger and his crew did a little clamming, and managed their limit.  Henry Busby was crabbing … “One bushel on Saturday, we had a few big 6 and 7 inch crabs.  We crabbed all weekend between Bethany and Fenwick”  I had a conversation online with Henry before he came down, and I said … “Hey last year we had horrible weather it can’t be that bad.”  Or not!!  The 3R’s beach crew caught a few croakers today I saw a blue, or 2 caught while driving on.  Mullet was the bait the crew was using.  I honestly didn’t think anything would produce in the surf today, it was that rough.  I checked out the kite beach (New rd.) on the way out, and it looks like all of the water on route 1 drained there last night.  There is a few ditches cut by draining flood water.  most of the flooding in Oak Orchard is rain and not tidal, but the tide will be up higher than normal tonight.  The flood water is saltwater, it is mixed in with the marsh water now, not good for all the vehicles driving through.  We are expecting more rain, but so far haven’t seen a drop, knocking on wood.  We do not need anymore rain, to the north and west of us, it is pouring, we will see that water soon, dumping out of the Delaware bay.  I will keep you posted on what happens with Mark’s house, he was visited by a state representative, and was told they would be back to help.  We shall see how that goes, it is an election year.  I want to send a shout out to my buddy Bruce Darby he is riding out Hurricane Isaac in a boat, in the Keys.  His last post … “No worries, I’m actually on a 60 foot Viking, watching tv and chillin in the ac..definately an eye forming southeast of key west just like hurricane Georges just not as intense.” … I have crazy friends, but you have to be, to live near the water … tight hatches brother!!

Fish On!!

Rich King