ATLANTIC CITY-- Residents grabbed both surfboards and mops following the passing of Hurricane Earl. It's a storm that many in Atlantic City say they will remember for a longtime to come.

"Its big, its big and messy, its pretty dangerous but fun," said Mays Landing resident Chris Frye, right before taking to the water.

The waves were big and the surf pounding but that was just perfect for a handful of surfers on the North end of Atlantic City this evening. They took to the hurricane driven breakers in search of the perfect wave. While catching a wave with a hurricane looming offshore may not be the safest activity, these brave few said "surfs up."

"I'm just going to try to hang out there and enjoy it. Its not too often a hurricane swell comes around here," said Frye.

Surfers may have been out enjoying huge waves, however, it was not all fun and games in Atlantic City. The waves are basically crashing into dunes and causing a lot of damage.

"Now look at it, its completely obliterated," said Stephanie Brooks from Galloway. Brooks said she couldn't believe that the area right in front of her, on the beach near Vermont Avenue, used to be a beach. Now it's no longer there. "It's gone now, completely," said Brooks.

The water that crashed through dunes and consumed beaches didn't stop there. It continued to flow and flood city streets. "We have a lot of flooding in this area especially on the beach blocks," said Atlantic City Director of Emergency Management Tom Foley.

"We're telling people not to come and pickup unless they have a boat," said Mario Dorazio, Manager of Tony Bolony's pizza shop.

The water worked its way into homes and even Tony Boloney's pizza shop on Oriental Avenue. "We got all the water with no rain," said Dorazio.

Even with businesses, streets and homes flooded on the city's North end officials still say the damage could have been much worse.

"We were very fortunate because you can see the power of this storm. Had this thing hit us directly these waves would have been crashing on Atlantic Avenue," said Foley.

Either way many say they will remember these waves and the hurricane that powered them for some time to come.

"Hopefully I'll catch a couple good waves and have some good memories out there," said Frye.