Del. Schools Close, Residents Relocated

At the Delaware beaches, the waters have started to recede but the damage from the rough surf is very visible. The waves have taken huge chunks out of the dunes.

Motorists all over the Delmarva peninsula were being detoured from roads flooded by wind and rain from the remnants of Ida.

Tides washed out dunes along state Route 1 in Delaware near the Indian River bridge, leaving several feet of water and more than a foot of sand on the road. Roads elsewhere in Sussex and Kent counties also are closed Friday because of high water.

Emergency officials say they're keeping a close eye on Friday morning's high tide.

Joe Thomas, director of emergency operations for Sussex County, said, "The rain still has subsided down here. We're still seeing the wind blowing pretty hard, particularly along the coast. And we're still experiencing some moderate flooding up and down the coastline and in our inland bay areas."

The four major school districts along the coast have closed for Friday.

The Delaware National Guard has been taken up on its offer of assistance, Thomas added.

"Actually, we've used the National Guard for about three missions throughout the night," he said. They've furnished some supplies and they also helped pull some people out of some residences out of homes in our inland bays area. There was high water coming around their homes, so we relocated those people."

Thomas said they find most of their people are pretty resilient and have been there for a while, so they tend to ride storms out.

"I don't know if they were caught by surprise so much or if they just ride the storms out," he said.

There are no reports of storm-related injuries in his county as a part of relocation efforts, he said.

Some who ventured onto the beach Thursday said it was hard just to stand up.

Residents said it was already the worst storm they had seen in over a decade.

"I think it was '97 or '98 I saw it close to like this, but I think this is actually a little bit worse than it was then," one man said.