DEWEY BEACH, Del.- Living on the coast has its perks, but living close to the water makes one thing inevitable, flooding. Dewey Beach is no stranger to this issue, particularly on Read Avenue say residents. To combat the persistent flooding, the town installed pipes a few months ago to direct water out to the bay.
On July 18, the Dewey Beach Infrastructure Committee will hear from Remington and Vernick Engineers for an update on the installation and performance of flaps on the stormwater pipes on Read Avenue bayside. These flaps were installed in May of this year, and are designed to help push water out to the bay, and the engineers will report on their effectiveness.
Phil Winkler, who lives on Read Avenue, says the project was not successful.
"No, it hasn't helped at all, and since I'm here all the time, I go out and measure to determine whether it's bay water or rainwater because one of the engineer's excuses was that rain caused the problem, but that is not correct," said Winkler.
Deborah Bruhl, who also lives on Read Avenue, says the constant flooding is incredibly frustrating.
"About every year and a half or so, we're replacing our car brakes because of the salt water, and that gets to be expensive," said Bruhl.
The town says finding a solution for the flooding problem is a challenge because the bayside of Read Avenue only sits about a foot above sea level. The town said in the meeting they will be doing a walkthrough with the Army Corps of Engineers to see if the million-dollar grant from Senator Coons's office could be used to help solve Read Avenue's flooding problem.