FENWICK ISLAND, Del. -Coastal storms occur more frequently than many might think, a reality Fenwick Island homeowner William Biddle knows all too well.
"In 2012, we had so much water you couldn't get around unless you had a boat. And we had knocking on the back door. It was the police in a kayak," Biddle recalled.
This week, Fenwick's emergency management committee and the Chief of Police met to discuss plans for handling hurricanes or other severe weather conditions.
Currently, the main evacuation route for the town is the Route 54 bridge. However, if that bridge is under construction, Route 26 and the Route 90 bridge will serve as alternative exits.
Chief Michael Morrissey will be outlining which officers will be responsible for informing residents to evacuate. However, he emphasized that the police might not be available to help those who choose to ignore evacuation orders.
"We are not going to put our officers in harm's way to come and do rescues after we asked you to evacuate," Morrissey stated.
For Biddle, the decision to stay put is already made.
"No, we've never left for any reason. And I guess probably at our age, you know, you've got three weeks out and the evacuation, they're going to be so jammed, you're going to be in bumper-to-bumper traffic forever because the state of Delaware doesn't have an east-west highway that can handle the traffic," he said.
The next meeting on this topic will be in July, where further discussions on keeping everyone in Fenwick Island safe during a storm will take place.