A slow-moving cold front that helped protect the Eastern Seaboard from a direct strike by Hurricane Erin is now soaking parts of the South and Southeast, causing widespread flash flooding in Charleston, South Carolina and dampening the end of the week for many others.

Hurricane Erin is entering the first stages of a post-tropical transition as it continues to move away from the eastern coast of the United States.

Waves from Hurricane Erin pounded Long Beach Island earlier this week, taking away a historic island landmark. A steel mast poking above the sand on the beach at Barnegat Light was all that remained to let people know the final resting place of the vessel Sea King. On Thursday night, the storm pulled the mast back to sea.

Volunteers from the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center search for sea turtle nests and to relocate turtles on Topsail Island, N.C., after Hurricane Erin battered the barrier island.

The Suffolk County Department of Health Services said Atlantic beaches in Suffolk County would remain closed to swimmers through Saturday morning due to hazardous rip currents from the storm that are expected to remain over the weekend. Earlier in the day, the department had said the closures would last until Saturday night.