NEW YORK (AP) — Not all the repairs are finished, not all the sand is replaced and not every nearby business has recovered.
But seven months after Superstorm Sandy devastated hundreds of miles of shoreline, most of New York's beaches are officially open this Memorial Day weekend.
After a cleanup effort that cost tens of millions of dollars, visitors from the Rockaways to the Hamptons will be able to enjoy miles of seashores that have been groomed and cleaned up by volunteers and work crews.
In some places, two-story-tall sand dunes have been washed away. In other places, miles-long stretches of boardwalk still need to be replaced. In still others, sunbathers may have to squeeze their towels a little closer on beaches shrunken in some places by half its normal size by the effects of erosion.
