No part of Delaware escaping early wrath of Sandy

The Delaware River towns south of Wilmington usually flood in heavy rains.  Sandy was promising to compound that problem.

Water was starting to cover some low lying roads south of Wilmington as of midday Tuesday, with more intense impacts for New Castle County in the coming hours.   The city evacuation order was fully in effect from the state of the storm.  Residents appeared to heeding the warning. 

As the storm headed for a collision course with the first state one could see high water just outside of the city of Wilmington. It forced police to close New Castle Avenue at Terminal Avenue in a scene that will likely be repeated throughout the Route 9 corridor in the near future.  Water covered several roads south in and around Old New Castle as well.  

A WHYY news crew just missed getting hit by downed power lines by a few minutes along West 3rd Street in New Castle.    More than 800 Delmarva Power customers were in the dark as of 1:30 Monday afternoon.  That number is expected to soar as the wind speed continues to increase.

Delaware City had its pumps in place trying to put water back in the Delaware River as fast it as it appeared on town streets.  The Delaware City post office on Clinton Street was piled high with sandbags created before the storm roared into the state.