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50th Anniversary: 1962-2012 DELAWARE’S GREAT NOR’EASTER DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT DELAWARE Three days of unrelenting wind, water, waves deaths, more than $50 million in storm Delaware Bay coastal towns were cut off tures that are not normally hit during Storm of '62 etched in damage, $20 million in repair costs for the from inland areas with flood waters of storms,” said Wendy Carey, coastal haz- damaged beach, $20 million in personal more than 4 feet. ards specialist with the Delaware Sea Cape Region history property losses and destroyed businesses A family of six was lost in South Bow- Grant program. along the coast. In today's dollars, the to- ers Beach when their car was overtaken After the storm, police and Delaware By Ron MacArthur tal losses would be more than $500 mil- by water as they attempted to flee the Army and Air National Guard were [email protected] lion. area. Another person who refused to called in to keep people away and prevent Nearly 2,000 homes sustained damage evacuate died in Slaughter Beach. looting. It's the storm all others are compared in Dewey Beach, South Bethany, Bethany Most coastal roads were impassable as Carey went to see the storm damage as to, yet those who lived through the Storm Beach and Fenwick Island. Wave action the dunes were destroyed, leaving 4 feet a child. “I remember finding shiny bath- of '62 find it hard to compare it to any- destroyed 28 of 29 oceanfront homes in of sand along Route 1. The Boardwalk, room tiles buried in the sand like little thing else. Fifty years have done little to Bethany, as well as every oceanfront which had been in place without damage treasures,” she said. “You could find diminish the memories of people affected home in South Bethany. for nearly 80 years, was splintered be- everything including the kitchen sink.” by the massive storm. The ocean swept straight through to yond recognition. Many Rehoboth Beach Fifty years ago – during the first week the bay in Dewey Beach. Sand covered landmarks – Dolle's, Pink Pony cocktail The makings of a perfect storm of March – the Storm of the Century hit Route 1 – then Route 14 – from Dewey lounge, Belhaven Hotel, Atlantic Sands The Storm of '62 – also known as the the Cape Region coast with unrelenting Beach to Indian River Inlet and beyond, Hotel, Playland (now Funland), Henlopen Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 – had all fury. A 1,000-mile wide nor'easter, the leaving the highway impassable. Hotel, Stuart-Kingston Gallery – were ei- the makings of a perfect storm. It was un- storm lingered off the coast for five con- Damage was not confined to the coast- ther completely destroyed or badly dam- usual in its development, makeup and be- secutive high tides. The oceanfront dune line as unprecedented high tides drove aged. Other oceanfront hotels and homes havior. Three low-pressure systems system from Maryland to Cape Henlopen water inland to create the worst floods in were ripped off their foundations; some formed off the East Coast, held in place was flattened. memory. Downtown Milton, Millsboro were laid open with doors and curtains by a high-pressure system over eastern Three days of pounding surf, storm and Milford were flooded; the water had hanging in the breeze. Canada, Carey said. The high-pressure surge and seemingly endless extreme nowhere to go because low-tide water re- “Huge waves superimposed on the high tides brought heavy losses: seven mained at normal high-tide levels. storm surge were able to break on struc- Continued on page 60 Page design by Jen Ellingsworth 50th Anniversary: 1962-2012 DELAWARE’S GREAT NOR’EASTER PHOTO COURTESY OF HAROLD WHITE Another Rehoboth Beach landmark, Stuart Kingston Galleries, broke up and slid off its foundation into the sand. PHOTO COURTESY OF NORMAN PLACK The large Grier House along the coast in north Rehoboth Beach is one of many that toppled over due to foundation failure caused by erosion of sand around the houses. The view looking north toward the Atlantic Sands Hotel shows the devastation along The Boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach. DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PHOTOS Debris, including wood from The Boardwalk and buildings, was piled up following the storm. Dolle's and the Atlantic Sands Hotel, two Rehoboth Beach landmarks, were in ruins after the Storm of '62. At 21, Jay Stein was a young man in his prime. He had already started work- ing in his parent’s auction house – Stuart Kingston – on the Boardwalk. He remembers his family had never been away from the store very long be- fore 1962 – nor any time since 1962. Remembering Rehoboth Beach in ‘62 It happened that in March 1962, his father decided to pack up about 95 per- cent of the items in the auction house and ship them to Florida for a sale sess the damage. through another auction house. Locals share memories of “The thing I remember most is that I saw no evidence of the storm any- “This building totally was destroyed. I remember the safe washed up on the where coming into town. I didn't see any branches down, wires down or trees beach,” Stein said. down until 50 to 75 feet off the Boardwalk,” he said. “Then it was utter destruc- “We were back open for business in August,” Stein said. “I remember the monster storm in resort town tion.” Boardwalk and much of the other damage was repaired quickly and open again By Rachel Swick Mavity and Nick Roth The only portion of Sport Center that remained somewhat intact was the in July. Things seemed to get done faster then.” [email protected] front corner where Dentino started the park in 1939 with a spill-the-milk game. Evelyn Dick Thoroughgood was in her 40s in 1962. She still lives in the same The reason it survived was that Dentino dug the foundation deep enough, house she lived in then, on Bayard Avenue in Rehoboth Beach. haron Fisk Rose was 12 in 1962. Her family lived in Rehoboth and ran something he was mocked for at the time. “There was no evacuation then – it was just another storm,” Thoroughgood Sport Center on Delaware Avenue, the place now known as Funland. “Mr. Dentino scooped out the foundation with a mule and a scoop,” Fasnacht said. “I remember there were a lot of storms back then.” As part of the Rehoboth Beach Museum’s oral history project, Rose said. Now in her 90s, Thoroughgood told her story of 1962, remembering what had been and what changed “In doing that, he got low enough that the erosion [barely af- remembers vividly her childhood S fected it]. Mr. Dentino remembers his cronies watching him and “There was no in Rehoboth. Even though the during the three-day storm. “The kiddie rides were devastated by that storm. A couple Dodgem cars that saying, 'Where are you going, to China?'” storm took out much of the weighed over 500 pounds were never found. They just disappeared, not to be But it worked to his advantage. The building sank only a little evacuation then.” Boardwalk and shops, her house seen again.” bit and was more than salvageable. wasn’t damaged. Rose’s parents were in Florida with her grandparents when the storm hit. The storm not only created destruction that has yet to be seen “It was just another storm. I She said National Guardsmen Her grandfather was a bootlegger during Prohibition; he had eventually settled again in this area, but it also made for a poor summer of '62. were stationed on the street in in Rehoboth Beach before it was the summer destination it is today. “We didn't do much business that year because everyone remember there were a lot of front of her house to discourage Rose stayed in Rehoboth at a friend’s house while her family was in Florida. thought the place was utter destruction,” he said. “The first sum- - Evelyn Dick Thoroughgood, looters. After the storm, she tried to walk to Sport Center so she could report on the mer was slow, and understandably so.” storms back then.” Rehoboth Beach “I remember we had television damage to her parents, but she was stopped by National Guard members. They The Fasnachts have since taken precautions to safeguard Fun- aerials on our roof and they had closed the roads. land from any major destruction if such a storm were to hit again. weren’t even bent,” she said. “The “I sat at the end of Delaware Avenue and looked down at Funland, and I They've installed 20-foot piles under the foundation, which is seven to eight storm only damaged the first 50 feet from the Boardwalk.” could remember sitting there and crying.” feet below the level of the Boardwalk. “The largest storm of my lifetime definitely was March of ’62,” said Connie Sport Center was to be sold to the Fasnacht family just a week later. Allen But even the best precautions are never a guarantee, he said. Catts, wife of Dick Catts, in her oral history at the Rehoboth museum. Fasnacht had talked to Rose's grandfather, Jack Dentino, throughout the winter “When the storm hit in '62, the old-timers making the observations said “When I went down the next day on the Boardwalk, it was devastated. Like as he prepared to take over the business, and he remembers receiving a phone killer storms occur about every 50 years,” he said. the Atlantic Sands, the front of the buildings were gone, some whole buildings The Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk took the brunt of the storm as waves and storm surge blasted the area for three straight days.