Broadkill Beach

Critical tide monitors face full shutdown

Date

Caught in a federal-state funding standoff that one Delaware official said could put lives at risk, widely used public tide and weather monitors at more than 10 Delaware River and Bay sites face shutdown by September.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration posted the shutdown notice with little fanfare for its local Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS) sites. Few outside of river and bay maritime interests were aware of the threat on Thursday.