Mayor Baker Reemphasizes Mandatory Evacuation of Southeast Wilmington ONLY

Posted on  10/28/2012 2:34 pm

Wilmington Mayor James M. Baker said today that an operator error at the City’s Emergency Communications Center resulted in some City residents receiving an evacuation notice over their telephones even though they are outside of the mandatory evacuation zone. The erroneous messages were sent today between noon and 1:30 p.m. All homes that received the message erroneously are being sent a correction notice, and all residents in the actual evacuation zone will receive another telephone call reemphasizing the need to evacuate.

Just to be absolutely clear, Mayor Baker is once again announcing the evacuation notice, which has been transmitted repeatedly since early yesterday afternoon. The Mayor also emphasizes that today’s error does NOT affect the evacuation order whatsoever. The residents living in the Southeastern portion of Wilmington must still evacuate by 6 p.m. tonight.

The MANDATORY evacuation affects ONLY the southeast portion of the City bounded by Vandever Avenue, Northeast Boulevard, Church Street, Front Street and South Market Street. This area is further bounded to the south by the City line just past the South Market Street Bridge and the Delaware River to the east.

Residents within this area are familiar with the flooding that can occur here during extreme weather events, and have had to evacuate their homes during prior storms—most recently during Hurricane Irene in August of 2011.

Residents in the evacuation zone who do not have shelter plans in place are advised to call the City’s Office of Constituent Services at 302.576.2489 now through 6 p.m. to make arrangements for transportation to a shelter. The City will provide the transportation.

All emergency calls should be directed to 911 as is always the case.

Further advisories will be issued as conditions warrant.