Residents all along the American East Coast cleaned up and dried out Sunday and Monday as power returned and the waters subsided after the first hurricane to strike the mainland United States since 2008 fizzled into oblivion in the North Atlantic.

Outside the beachside apartment of Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Eli and Beila Goodman in Long Beach, N.Y., pictures told a harrowing tale of quickly rising ocean waters, but documented hazards that were far less than predicted.

Similarly down south in Wilmington, N.C., just hours from where Hurricane Irene first made landfall over the weekend, the main inconveniences facing residents like Rabbi Moshe Lieblich were downed trees.

Although the storm was fatal – upwards of 16 people perished – forecasters and emergency management officials said things could have been much worse.


Ominous skies and quickly rising water greeted those who did not evacuate Long Beach, N.Y., Sunday morning as Hurricane Irene approached.


Downgraded to a tropical storm shortly after it made landfall in New York, Irene still packed a strong punch, eroding sand-walls erected to protect Long Beach’s boardwalk.


The rising waters of the Atlantic Ocean engulfed some boardwalk structures outside the apartment of Rabbi Eli and Beila Goodman, directors of Chabad of the Beaches.


The water also broke through some wooden barriers.


Residents returned to the boardwalk as the waters receded.


The Goodmans’ apartment building emerged relatively unscathed.


Rabbi Moshe Lieblich of Chabad of Wilmington, N.C., awoke on Sunday to a downed tree blocking the street in front of his house. Although the storm was fatal – upwards of 16 people perished – forecasters and emergency management officials said things could have been much worse.


Located just hours from where Hurricane Irene first made landfall over the weekend, Wilmington’s major hazards were flooding and downed trees. Rabbi Moshe Lieblich spent part of the day assisting neighbors and emergency crews in removing the tree blocking his street.