DELAWARE (4/20/2015) As thunderstorms brought hail and power outages to the region, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning until 2:30 a.m. Tuesday for New Castle County.
The flood warning area may receive 1 to 2 inches of rain an hour, the weather service said, and flooding is likely on the Christina River, which also flooded this morning.
Multiple lines of thunderstorms were moving across the Delmarva Peninsula, and one storm brought quarter-inch hail to New Castle about 10:50 p.m., the weather service reported. Earlier, three-quarter inch hail was reported in North East, Maryland.
Delmarva Power reported at 11:15 p.m. that more than 4,000 customers had lost electric service. Most of those were in the Charlestown area of Cecil County in Maryland. Some may not have service restored until 7 a.m., the company said.
A tornado watch was issued earlier until midnight for Kent and New Castle counties, but there were no reports of any forming.
The storms came after an afternoon of sunshine which followed heavy morning rainfall — more than 2 inches in northern Delaware — that caused numerous crashes, and flooded some streams and roadways.
A flood warning was issued at 10:32 a.m. for the Christina River at Cooch’s Bridge, the National Weather Service said. The river had risen to a half foot above flood stage, a level the service said would cause flooding on Meadow Road near New Castle and in yards on East Main Street in Christiana. The river had swollen to about 5 feet above recent normal levels by 7:45 a.m. and was about a foot above the “bank full” benchmark at that time.
Gov. Printz Boulevard was flooded south of Edgemoor Road, near Shellpot Creek, and two vehicles were reported stuck in the water there at 8:55 a.m.
Shellpot Creek just outside Wilmington had risen 4 feet by 7 this morning and was more than 2 feet over the bank full mark.
DelDOT reported Montchanin Road closed at 4:30 a.m. between Rockland Road and Route 141 due to a tree down in the roadway. It has since been reopened.
In Sussex County, Atlanta Road and Sand Hill Road were closed near the Maryland line west of Bridgeville due to a pole and wires down but DelDOT said they were reopened about 10 a.m.. The Delaware Electric Cooperative says a car accident caused the problem and two poles were down with 11 members without service.
Delmarva Power reported 58 customers lost electric service this morning along East Dennys Road north of Dover, and 184 were out in Cecil County in Maryland.
DelDOT cut the speed limit on Interstate 495 to 55 mph.
The temperature is predicted to drop to the mid-50s tonight. Showers will end overnight with a sunny day predicted Tuesday and a high about 70.
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