A sea lion performs on the first day of the re-opening of the Wildlife Conservation Society New York Aquarium in Coney Island yesterday. The aquarium was heavily damaged by Hurricane Sandy and reopens a day after city beaches reopened to the public.

 

AFP/New York

Seven months after deadly superstorm Sandy devastated the coastline of New Jersey and parts of New York, all New York City beaches opened on Friday at the start of the three-day Memorial Day weekend.  New York City has eight public beaches along 14 miles (23km) of coastline - Brooklyn (southeast), Bronx (north), Queens (northeast) and Staten Island (south).

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday that the city spent $370mn removing debris, cleaning and replacing tons of sand, and rebuilding stretches of boardwalk to get the beaches ready for the summer.

City workers, along with volunteers, removed some 430,000 tonnes of debris, while the Army Corps of Engineers and city contractors cleaned more than 200,000 cubic yards (153,000 cu m) of beach sand.

The Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of the summer in the US.

The beach reopening, however, is more symbolic than anything, since low temperatures forecast over the weekend are likely to keep most bathers away from the waves.