REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. - It was a treacherous drive down the back roads of Rehoboth Beach Saturday morning, with heavy winds and white-out conditions that led to power outages in some areas.
Isolated power outages were reported on the coast Saturday in Rehoboth Beach, Bethany Beach, and Fenwick Island.
80 Delaware Department of Transpiration (DelDOT) plows were on the road. The severity of the storm has them prioritizing main highways as snow piled up for hours.
"They took some rest breaks overnight so that they could work all day today kind of thing and through tomorrow, whatever we need to do," said DelDOT South District Engineer, Alastair Probert. "So, they’ve been plowing and applying material as needed."
Meanwhile, some residential areas were almost impassible, with just faint tracks from other cars to keep you on the road.
But, in true Rehoboth fashion, that didn't keep people from taking their daily walks on the beach.
Neighbors Holly Morse and Anne Nikodem drove all the way from Virginia to spend the snow day at their Rehoboth homes.
"We were supposed to be in South America snowshoeing, so now we’re here," Morse said.
They say city plows made sure locals were taken care of.
"We’re really surprised that they came down," Nikodem said. "And we were delighted, other than the tree limbs that are coming down, they really cleared the road for us so we won’t have any problem getting out tomorrow."
While plow drivers work to keep snow from accumulating on roads, equally essential utility companies repair power lines and hurry to restore lost power.
Delaware Electric Cooperative advises being prepared for an extended outage with plenty of supplies to stay warm and hydrated. They say road conditions on a day like Saturday can often extend outages, but they have technology that turns the lights and heat back on until they can get there.
"We even have some capabilities to - through our engineering dispatch system - to reroute some power so people aren’t out the whole time," said Lauren Irby, Public Relations and Community Outreach Manger for Delaware Electric.
From dogs trotting through a foot of snow to get to the beach, to folks trekking down the Avenue in snow shoes to find hot chocolate, it was a snow day for the record book in the nation's summer capital.
To see a map and status of current power outages or to report an outage in your area, check out Delaware Electric and Delmarva Power's website.