MARDELA SPRINGS,Ā Md. - A portion of theĀ road connecting Route 50 to Delmar Road in Mardela Springs washed away on Thursday morning.
Barren Creek Road runs north and south and along side Barren Pond in Wicomico County. Ā The storm that passed through the area on Wednesday dropped a lot of rain in a short period of time and water levels rose quickly. OnĀ Thursday morning, water was spilling over top of the roadway,Ā causing parts of the road to break apart.
"The water breached the dam, which caused scouring down stream and we've lost several hundred feet of the road way," said Lee Outen, roads supervisor for Wicomico County. Ā "So at that point in time, we did what we could to get the gates out, that allows the water to release and that got the water off the road."
However, Ā by the time the gates on the dam were raised to relieve some of that water pressure, the damage had been done. Ā A large chuck of the road was washed away by the water flowing from the Barren Pond.Ā The constant churning water on top, and underneath the road, was enough to weaken the structure which lead to the collapse and washing away of the road.
The road washing away this morning was the most dramatic example of weather related road damage in Wicomico County over the past few weeks, but certainly not the only one. Outen said there has been damage on Nanticoke Road, Pemberton Drive, Crooked Oak Lane, and Cherry Walk Road, to name a few.
"On the Eastern Shore, we're nearly at sea level so we don't have the luxury of elevation to carry the water from one place to another and it's just a matter of too much water at one time. Ā Systems are generally designed for a 100-year storm, not a 500-year storm as we've been having," Outen said.
Just down the road is The Hardware Store at the intersection on Barren Creek Road and Route 50. Ā Owner David Kenney hopes the road can eventually be repaired.
"It will make our customers that use that for travel go around to the traffic light to Mardela or come up on Railroad Road, which would be seven or eight miles farther for them to travel," Kenney said Thursday. "Which might make them change their mind about where they're going to buy their stuff."
Outen said the county may have to get an emergency contract to put sand and gravel into the area where the section of road washed away. Ā However, when it comes to a full repair, there is no way to guess on a timetable ofĀ when the road could be fixed.
