Bayard floods, but not for long

A million-dollar drainage system in Dewey Beach malfunctioned during recent severe rains and thunderstorms. But town officials say the problem was remedied quickly enough to drain more than a foot of water from Bayard Avenue in less than two hours.

Infrastructure committee Chairman Rick Judge said Bayard Avenue was under 14 inches of water Aug. 25.  A $900,000 project completed last year was designed to reduce flooding on the road. Town officials are still making payments on a $480,000 loan from Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to pay for the system.

Judge said a lightening strike near the pump station caused the system to detect high voltage and automatically shut itself off.

Judge said he went to the pump station and fixed the problem.  “Within an hour, it was under control; within an hour and a half, it was dry,” he said.

Dewey Beach flooded, but so did Rehoboth Beach and Long Neck, Judge said.  “Wilmington Avenue, Baywood, even Rehoboth Country Club was shut down for two days,” he said.

Judge said the pumps were not damaged and he plans to have a stronger surge protector installed so the pumps will not deactivate so easily in the future.  He said the system would also be programmed to call three numbers automatically when it is deactivated: Dewey Beach Police, town maintenance and the company that maintains the pumps.

Some residents say officials responded quickly enough to catch the problem before the rain caused any significant damage.  Larry Killeen, president of Cajun Cove Homeowners Association, said he went to the pump station when the flooding started, and Judge was already working to fix the problem.  “These people are just volunteers,” he said.

Killeen said the residents of Cajun Cove are satisfied with the pumps.  “I can say with certainty, all streets benefited,” he said.

Property owner Jennifer Hartman wrote an Aug. 27 letter to the Cape Gazette, saying she was disappointed with Mayor Diane Hanson’s handling of the situation.

Hartman said she was out of town and was contacted by guests staying at her house, who said there were 4 inches of water in the garage.  She said she contacted Hanson, who told her there were resources onsite to fix the pump station.

Hanson called Hartman again, but this time, Hartman said, the call was unintentional.  She said Hanson had pocket dialed her, and Hartman overheard the mayor criticizing her to someone else.

Hartman said she called Hanson back to confront her.  “She became defensive and rude indicating that I was out of line for calling her on a Saturday evening and that I was not very nice to her on my first phone call to her with regard to questioning the operation of the pumps,” she said.

Hartman said Hanson should resign as mayor.  “To call yourself mayor comes with a certain level of class and unfortunately Diane must have skipped her life lessons where class, courtesy and professionalism were taught,” she said.  Hartman also said Denise Campbell, who is running for town council in the Saturday, Sept. 15 election, encouraged her to write the letter.

Hanson said the negative, personal criticism from Hartman towards someone trying to help her is mystifying.  “This incident demonstrates how important this project was.  I am glad to take time to help people in an emergency,” she said.