ary 4, was worse, and prompted the evacuation of low-lying areas due the danger of flooding, those areas not having recovered from the first storm a week earlier. Severe beach erosion resulted from the 1998 storms.
Since 2000
In 2001, Bethany Beach celebrated its centennial and completed a new tabernacle. Also in that year, Dennis Beach's Chief Little Owl statue, badly damaged by termites, was replaced by a new Native American sculpture created by Peter Toth.
Over the winter of 2008-2009, the town's beaches underwent a vast beach replenishment program that cost the U.S. federal government approximately $20 million. The dunes put in place with the program are controversial because they reach over the height of the boardwalk, blocking most views of the ocean. Much of the criticism of them came from editorials in newspapers such as the local Delaware Wave and Coastal Point, along with Washington, D.C. media outlets. Remnants of Tropical Storm Ida hit the town in November 2009, destroying most of the dunes, leaving cliffs, making the beach significantly narrower, and revealing old jetties. Losses are likely to cost the state of Delaware $40 million {USD} and repairs are not going to be made until after the 2010 summer beach season.
By 2011, Bethany Beach had joined a growing number of communities in instituting a smoking ban, covering most of the beach and boardwalk areas
