Heavy rain and wind slammed Cecil County on Thursday, leaving behind downed trees and wires and a lot of water.
Flood watches remained in effect overnight, although tornado watches posted Thursday had been canceled by the evening, according to the National Weather Service at Mount Holly, N.J.
Cecil County Public Schools closed early Thursday in anticipation of poor travel conditions. Middle and high school students were dismissed at noon, with elementary schoolers following at 1 p.m.
According to the State Highway Administration Delaware Ave. in Elkton was the only state road closed. However, in Port Deposit, several town streets were closed to traffic because of high water.
Nearly 3,000 Delmarva Power customers in the Rising Sun area lost power at 5:40 p.m. Scattered smaller outages were widespread.
Brown water rushed across Delaware Avenue in Elkton on Thursday, the result of at least 5 inches of rainfall earlier in the day.
With more rain expected overnight, Terry Wright, district engineer for the State Highway Administration, said the work done on the road weeks ago was keeping the flooding from getting worse.
“We’re going to knock the debris away from the bridge,” Wright said. Clearing that would make the Big Elk Creek flow more within its banks, he said.
The state spent $700,000 to raise the road a seven inches and improve drainage. Delaware Avenue has flooded hundreds of times when the creek rose over its banks. As he watched the water rush by, Wright said that road project had done its job.
“It won’t handle major, major flooding,” Wright said. “It was for nuisance flooding.”
He said it appeared that the water level on the road was lower than in other comparable storms due in part to the work completed in early September.
“I think the cleanup will be a lot easier. There’s not going to be as much silt,” he said.
Kerry Anne Abrams, mayor of Port Deposit, looked out her front door on High Street and studied the Susquehanna River.
“You can see the water pushing up river instead of going down,” she said. “Right now what’s hurting us is the surge from the bay.”
A lifetime resident of the town, Abrams takes high water events in stride.
“I’m sure the houses that get water in their basements have water in the basement. Water is lapping over the jetty. It’s not going to take much more for it to go over,” she said, adding that Marina Park was already disappearing. “There’s not much you can do.
“There’s no place for (the water) to go. The drains couldn’t handle it.”
Thursday’s events surrounding Rising Sun’s 150th Anniversary were canceled. Sharon Gregory, spokeswoman for the planning committee, said tonight’s fireworks and concert by Leon Smith and the Sticky Situation Band at Community of Rising Sun Fire Company are expected to continue as planned.
Richard Brooks, the county’s director of emergency operations, said storm surge is also creating flooding problems in Charlestown and Carpenter’s Point.
“One of the campgrounds in Charlestown is under water. They are moving campers and cars to higher ground,” he said.
Brooks opened the emergency operations center, expecting a second wave of flooding overnight.
“There will be another surge (of rain) around 8 p.m. with an additional couple of inches,” he said. When high tide returns around 3:30 a.m. there should be more high water.
The storm followed a long narrow path that carried it just west of Cecil County, Brooks said.
Cecil County Examiner 