The only real indication that Hurricane Earl passed by the Delaware coast Friday was a ban in Rehoboth Beach on ocean swimming.
Otherwise, it was just a gray, drizzly day.
But the storm, now far past our area, will continue to dampen Delaware beachgoers’ vacations this weekend as water restrictions likely will continue.
Kent Buckson, captain of the Rehoboth Beach Patrol, expects rip currents to persist because the rough surf pulled sand offshore and rearranged the beach.
Waves likely will break farther offshore, and that can make for larger rip currents, Buckson said.
At high tide in Rehoboth Beach on Friday afternoon, the water covered so much of the beach that lifeguards asked visitors to leave the sand and move up to the boardwalk as a safety precaution.
“The beach is pretty much flooded out,” Buckson said.
Earl brought moderate wind and light rain to the Delaware coast beginning late Friday morning.
The storm moved a little farther to the east than was earlier forecast, said Jim Poirier, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, N.J.
“That’s better for Delaware, especially the coastal area,” he said.
On Thursday, coastal-area residents secured light items and municipal officials moved objects that could go flying. Earl was expected to bring winds of 25 to 30 mph along the Delaware coast with higher gusts.
But throughout the evening Thursday, the hurricane lost strength. By Friday morning, when it brushed by North Carolina’s Outer Banks, the peak winds were at 80 mph.
Then the storm moved north and east, moving it away from the coast. Delaware’s resort communities saw winds in the range of 17 to 20 mph, said Rosanne Pack, a spokeswoman for the Delaware Emergency Management Agency.
When Rehoboth Beach lifeguards cleared the beach Friday, it was just before 4 p.m. — also the time when the waves were the biggest of the day, Buckson said.
Meanwhile, high tides were expected to be slightly higher than normal.
The high winds Delaware’s coastal communities were expecting stayed about 25 miles offshore and measured at 40 mph, Pack said.
Throughout the holiday weekend, there could be some restrictions on swimming, Pack said.
Rough surf and strong rip currents are expected through the Labor Day weekend. Forecasters are saying the weather should be sunny and cooler throughout the weekend with daytime temperatures in the 70s to low 80s and nighttime lows in the 50s.
“We are fortunate Sussex County managed to dodge the storm this time,” said Joseph L. Thomas, Sussex County’s director of emergency operations.
