Post-Tropical Cyclone Lee passes Long Island's South Shore

NEW YORK - Long Island's South Shore residents are breathing a sigh of relief Saturday after spending the week preparing for Hurricane Lee. The category 2 storm wasn't expected to hit the Island, but there was concern it would cause serious flooding.  

Volunteers arrived at Lido Beach Saturday morning to pick up trash along the shore only to discover there was no beach. Hurricane Lee created storm surge along Long Island's South Shore Friday night.  

The tides were high, the waves were big, crashing over the sand dunes and flooding the shore. The minor flooding came as a relief.  

"It's not that bad," said Jeff Mason, Jones Beach State Park Director. "The storm went past us thank goodness."

At Jones Beach, crews used bulldozers to move sand berms to create bridge over the flooding and to the ocean. Water was so deep over the beachfronts of West Bathhouse and Field 2, they were inaccessible.  

"The beaches did get hit a little worse than the other beaches in the park," Mason said.  

But most importantly, the storm surge didn't flood under the boardwalk and into the buildings or into homes on the South Shore.

The current is strong, but it's not considered dangerous, so swimmers take advantage because this is the last weekend before swimming stops, and it doesn't start back up until Memorial Day.