Hurricane Erin live updates: Coastal flood warning in effect for NYC after monster storm pounds North Carolina
Hurricane Erin has battered North Carolina’s Outer Banks with strong winds and waves, flooding part of its main highway and surging under beachfront homes.
Forecasters have predicted the Atlantic storm will peak Thursday and said it could regain strength and once again become a major hurricane, Category 3 or greater, although it is not now forecast to make landfall along the U.S. East Coast, instead turning farther out to sea.
Tropical storm conditions are nevertheless anticipated over parts of the Outer Banks and the coast of Virginia, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
As Erin’s outer bands brushed the Banks, water poured onto the main route connecting the barrier islands and a handful of stilted homes precariously perched above the beach. By Wednesday evening, officials had closed Highway 12 on Hatteras Island as the surge increased and waves rose.
More than 2,000 people were evacuated by ferry from Ocracoke Island, the governor’s office said, adding that the service “will continue as long as the weather holds.”
The hurricane formed on August 11 from a tropical wave that moved across the Cape Verde Islands and was upgraded on August 15, becoming one of the fastest-intensifying on record.
