Rain swept up motorists, beachfront parks were smashed and thousands spent a soggy night displaced, but for many New Yorkers, the purported "Storm of the Century" was a yawn.
On Rockaway Beach, one of the first areas of the city to be evacuated, stone outdoor chessboards and parts of a skateboarding rink were scattered near the sand as tropical storm Irene gave way to gray but calm skies.
"Thank God the damage is just this and not to houses," Tony Camacho said as he returned to his neighborhood in the early afternoon Sunday.
Neighbor Brad Palisi voiced relief that only outdoor property appeared to be damaged and, like many New Yorkers, questioned the unprecedented evacuation of some 370,000 people. He said authorities now had to follow up.
"The Rockaways often don't get as much attention as other parts of the city. So the question now is, how much attention we will get when it comes to repairs," he said.
But Kevin Johnson, who defied the evacuation orders, said he wished he had left.
"When I saw the water coming past the boardwalk at 6:00 am and my lights started to flicker, I realize I really should have left," said Johnson, even though in the end his power stayed on.
Some meteorologists predicted that New York would see its first major hurricane hit since 1938. Leaders from President Barack Obama to Mayor Michael Bloomberg took frequently to the airwaves, urging people to follow authorities' advice.
But in a city famed for its stubbornness, many New Yorkers second-guessed the response, suggesting that authorities were most interested in ensuring that they would not be blamed later.
"They shouldn't have evacuated everyone. Now some people might have thousands of dollars in damages and they weren't around to stop it," said Joe Perota, who was out walking his dog in Coney Island.
"They need to think about the weather and not just look at satellites," he said.
Perota was outside strolling just an hour after Coney Island, a beachside amusement strip, was suddenly filled with water -- the result of a storm surge that authorities had warned about.
An ocean of dirty sea water -- along with tree branches, discarded paper bags and other litter -- gushed through from the beach, the site of amusement rides and the Nathan's hot dog stand famed for its July 4 eating competitions.
Roads that appeared safe and dry were quickly submerged, with the few motorists braving the storm forced to make split-second decisions on which way to move, trying to guess which streets were on higher ground and for how long.
Several drivers who had been traveling peacefully were forced to get out and trudge into waist-deep water to push along their cars, looking feverishly for the best exit from a neighborhood suddenly under water.
An AFP team made a quick turn off Coney Island's Mermaid Avenue to find that the water was on the chase. The driver put the foot on the gas and found higher land with moments to spare, the smelly sea water already seeping into the passengers' windows.
But Jose Pabon, who is originally from Puerto Rico, was not too bothered as he came downstairs from his Coney Island home and saw a still-flooded side street.
"Back in Puerto Rico, the whole city could be closed down for days," he said.
The mood was more somber in other parts of the US east coast, where at least 18 people were killed. More than two million people lost power across the United States and Vermont was still being pounded late Sunday.
In the so-called City That Never Sleeps, though, the sun was back up by evening and bars and restaurants were bustling with life. One blog of The Village Voice, the popular weekly, offered tongue-in-cheek advice on the next ordeal for New Yorkers -- how to get rid of hanger-on "Hurricane Boyfriends."