Attic Water Damage in Dover, DE

Why Dover Homes Face Attic Water Damage Risks

Local geography, climate, and housing stock all affect how water damage occurs in Dover. These are the most common causes our certified teams respond to in this area.

• 1The St. Jones River flows west-to-east through central Dover and drains into the Delaware Bay wetlands; it overtops its low-gradient banks during prolonged rain events or when Delaware Bay storm surge prevents outfall, flooding properties in the Edgehill neighborhood and the downtown core.
• 2Silver Lake, a 110-acre impoundment on the St. Jones in central Dover, can contribute to downstream flooding when its control structure is overwhelmed during major storms, sending elevated flows into the lower St. Jones corridor.
• 3Dover's position on Delaware's flat Coastal Plain, with much of the city sitting fewer than 20 feet above sea level, means storm surge from Delaware Bay during nor'easters and Atlantic hurricanes can reach well inland, particularly along Route 9 and the lower St. Jones watershed.
• 4Puncheon Run, a small tributary draining southeastern Dover, has a history of overbank flooding during summer convective storms; several subdivisions built in the 1980s and 1990s adjacent to the run experience periodic sheet flooding across streets and into garages.
• 5Dover's clay-and-silt Coastal Plain soils have very low infiltration rates; after only one inch of rainfall, surface ponding begins on flat residential lots, and extended wet periods in spring cause widespread wet-basement complaints across pre-1960s housing stock.