NO LEE WAY: Tropical storm chokes navigation channel, remakes Norriego Point, and takes a bite out of the beach (PHOTOS and VIDEO)

Although Tropical Storm Lee wasn’t a direct hit in Destin, the pelting rain, stinging sand and gusting winds will leave a lasting impact.

“I have never seen anything like this before,” St. Louis, MO., resident Jean Grandgenette told The Log while she was taking pictures of the Gulf of Mexico Monday afternoon with her granddaughter Lexi Grandgenette at James Lee Park. “This is pretty cool.”

After forming as a tropical depression last week, Lee slowly marched its way along the Gulf Coast drenching everywhere from Destin to Mobile, Ala., after it made landfall in Louisiana Sunday.

Potentially the most significant impact that Lee had on Destin over the Labor Day weekend came at Norriego Point.

“The point has made a pretty dramatic hook into the harbor,” said Mike Eller, captain of the Lady Em.

Looking at the critically eroded point from atop the Marler Bridge, Eller told The Log “something is going to have to be done,” as it appears the point has shifted 10 to 15 feet.

“It looks like it’s going to be single-vessel traffic coming in and out,” he said.

Public Services Director Steve Schmidt said the mouth of the harbor was like a “one-lane road” and the sands shifted toward the north.

He said the city is currently working on filing emergency permits with Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers that would bring an emergency dredge to the city to return the mouth of the harbor back to “pre-Lee conditions.”

“You can almost spit from one end of the point to the finger piers on the other side,” Schmidt said.

Given the city’s current financial situation, Schmidt said the costs associated with an emergency dredge project could be problematic as “we don’t have funding for it.” He said city leaders would consider declaring an emergency situation to help with Lee’s aftermath.

In Okaloosa County, Lee caused more than 4,000 customers to lose power, with the majority of those being in Destin. A downed wire on Calhoun Avenue accounted for about 3,000 of those customers.

According to a press release from Gulf Power Tuesday morning, as of 6 a.m., the utility had only a little more than 1,000 customers still without power — mostly in Northern Escambia County.

Power outages were not the only problems Destinites encountered from Lee’s three-day wind and rain assault.

According to reports from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, the heavy rains caused flooding along U.S. Hwy. 98 in Destin over the weekend, causing “multiple car standings.”

Deputies reported cars stranded at Benning Drive and near the Track Amusement Park.

Lee’s powerful wind gusts that had stop signs quivering and streetlights swaying peaked Sunday afternoon with a maximum gust of 51 mph, according to city weather tracker Larry Beat. The heaviest rainfall in Destin was registered Sunday morning, according to weather station Destin, with a rain rate of 9.44 inches per hour. In all, Lee dumped almost 6 inches of rain on Destin.

Traveling down the city’s newly paved and landscaped Mountain Drive, the effects of Lee’s winds were apparent as multiple palm trees had been bent in half and project completion signs were mangled.

Down at the Whale’s Tail in Miramar Beach, a group of about 15 locals and tourists were hanging out on the restaurants beachfront bar deck sipping on a cold one. While the tropical tempest kept many people away during the final push of the summer season, restaurants along

Hwy. 98 experienced packed crowds, with Cheeseburger in Paradise reporting an hour-and-a-half wait.

Lee’s heavy rains and wind didn’t faze thirteen-year resident Rodney Combs as he rode his motorcycle to Whale’s Tail Monday.

“This is a pretty good one as far as the surge,” Combs said. “The winds did almost blow me off my bike.”

While the double red flags were flying over local beaches, Destin beach safety lifeguards were on duty, just in case their services were needed. Despite the warnings, a handful of swimmers were spotted on the beach behind The Islander on Holiday Isle.

Beach Safety Chief Joe D’Agostino told The Log the weekend “went pretty smooth,” with only one rescue made on Saturday after a man had his feet swept out from under him in relatively shallow water. While they remained dry, the lifeguards did spend time “keeping people out of the water.”

As Lee’s winds churned up the Gulf, the fears of some oil spill analysts were unfounded.

Okaloosa County Emergency Management Director Randy McDaniel said there were no reports of oil being pushed ashore.

“We don’t have any oil reports on the beaches,” he said, noting that public safety crews had been out on all public beach points patrolling Monday.