Kathy Kmonicek

Billy Stinson (L) comforts his daughter Erin Stinson as they sit on the steps where their cottage once stood August 28, 2011 in Nags Head, North Carolina. The cottage, built in 1903 and destroyed yesterday by Hurricane Irene, was one of the first vacation cottages built on Albemarle Sound in Nags Head. Stinson has owned the home, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, since 1963. “We were pretending, just for a moment, that the cottage was still behind us and we were just sitting there watching the sunset,” said Erin afterward.

Hurricane Irene moved along the east coast causing heavy flooding damage as far north as Vermont and shutting down the entire New York mass transit system.

Twelve-year old Matilda Mackey, from Ohio City, Ohio, practiced jumps and poses Tuesday in front of the fountain at Lincoln Center. She’s a ballet apprentice at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater this summer in a five- to six-week program for girls. (Benjamin Norman for The Wall Street Journal)

Mickey Melchiondo, better known as Dean Ween, guitarist for the New Hope, Pa.-based rock duo Ween, removes a hook from the mouth of a large fluke off the coast of Neptune, N.J. For the past three months, he has been getting up at 2:30 a.m. to fish the Atlantic Ocean. (Nick Brandreth for the Wall Street Journal )

Keagan Reilly leapt into the air Tuesday to return a ball during the New York City Parks’ free tennis lessons at Flushing Memorial Field in Flushing. (Kathy Kmonicek for The Wall Street Journal)

A New York Police Department van ran over and killed Kok Hoe Tee, a 55-year-old pedestrian, on Elizabeth Street in Chinatown, Manhattan, July 1. (Ken Maldonado for The Wall Street Journal)

Kids took off their shoes at Wednesday’s opening of the Police Athletic League’s Summer Play Streets Program on Manhattan Avenue in Harlem. (John Marshall Mantel for The Wall Street Journal)

The Maine lobster roll from the Red Hook Lobster Pound, which has rolled out a truck for the summer. (Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal)

On the Fourth of July, five-year-old Anthony LoSacco played in the heavy shore surf during the annual Oceanfest in Long Branch, N.J. (Kevin Hagen for The Wall Street Journal)

An aerial view of Asphalt Green and a closed garbage-transfer station (with ramp) across the street from it, from an apartment on 89th and 90th streets in Manhattan. A proposal would re-open the station. (Philip Montgomery for The Wall Street Journal)

The steamed crab dumplings at Yotel, a recently opened hotel at 570 Tenth Ave. (Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal)

Director and filmmaker Sean Casey drives his tornado chasing mobile down 5th Avenue and 58th Street in Manhattan. Mr. Casey uses the vehicle to drive into storms and film them using IMAX cameras. (Philip Montgomery for The Wall Street Journal)

Hugo Mendez prepares a caesar salad at The Dauphin Grille, 1401 Ocean Ave. in Asbury Park, N.J. (Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal)

SLS Jets’ Shaun Garber, left, was pitted against Team Yellow Cab’s Nacho Figuera on Monday in the Kings Polo Classic at Bucks Mill Park in Colt’s Neck, N.J. (Kevin Hagen for the Wall Street Journal)

The spicy pepino margarhita at Yotel, 570 Tenth Ave. (Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal )

Anthony Velez, 16, steered his sailboat away from the dock on Pier 66 on the west side of Manhattan Thursday. He is participating in a summer program run by Hudson River Community Sailing that teaches schoolchildren how to sail. (Claudio Papapietro for The Wall Street Journal)