Posted on September 30, 2026
After a nearly six-day nor’easter churned up the East Coast, Delaware and federal officials are assessing damage the storm left in its wake.
Sussex County beaches like Bethany Beach, South Bethany and Dewey Beach took the brunt of the storm, with flooding and beach erosion. Bay communities like Pickering Beach, Slaughter Beach and Bowers Beach were also heavily impacted.
There were no deaths or injuries caused by the storms, though there was some property damage.
Bethany Beach, in particular, saw significant loss to its dunes. According to Mayor Ron Calef, dunes were reduced to about a quarter of their designed size. Beach visitors now face a steep drop-off about 12 feet high where they could previously walk down to the beach from the boardwalk. Access points to the beach are currently closed.
Greg Patterson, secretary of the state’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, said despite this, the dune “did its job” to protect the surrounding area.
“It’s not great that it all got eaten away, but that is what it was designed to do and you didn’t have flooding into these businesses or homes. You didn’t have the boardwalk torn apart by waves like it would have happened 20 years ago before this dune,” Patterson told WHYY News.
At a press conference on the Bethany Beach Boardwalk, Gov. Matt Meyer said the state is looking at what investments toward the beaches have worked in protecting it, and figuring out how to partner with the federal government on future beach replenishment.
“Storms like this remind us that we really need to double down,” Meyer said. “These investments are hard to make. They are not cheap. It’s expensive for us. It’s expensive for the federal government and often it’s expensive for towns, but it’s really important we make those investments on a day like today.”
Replenishment projects in Delaware are completed in partnership with DNREC and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Patterson said that the state can work on short-term solutions, but it will likely take years to make the beach communities fully resilient to storms.
“[The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will] go through their process working with us to identify how much sand is needed and what those projects might need to look like, but then it is going to become a funding question,” Patterson said.
Meyer said he is hopeful that the state can secure federal funding for the projects, and that it will be partnering with the state’s congressional delegation on “making sure this national treasure is taken care of.”
