As Hurricane Joaquin churned away from the East Coast Friday, the city was still preparing beaches against possible storm surge.

The Department of Parks and Recreation's workers had been using heavy equipment to build sand berms at Orchard Beach. The department said it usually starts preparing beaches for hurricane season shortly after summer ends.

As News 12 meteorologists tracked Hurricane Joaquin, a separate storm was hitting the Bronx Friday. The water was choppy at city beaches, and highways were expected to be wet throughout the day.

The city, which experienced heavy rains, was also using sandbags and sealing sidewalk subway grates to prevent possible flooding underground.

On Friday morning, the hurricane was battering the Bahamas. Slow weakening of the storm was expected to begin Saturday.

Earlier in the week, forecasters thought the storm could make landfall in the U.S., but they backed off those predictions.