Hurricane Erin updates: Storm strengthens as North Carolina’s Outer Banks conditions ‘deteriorate’
North Carolina is under a state of emergency, and more than 2,000 people have been evacuated as Hurricane Erin continues to move northward toward the U.S. East Coast.
Tropical storm-force winds and surge conditions are expected to increase in the Outer Banks region of The Tar Heel State and parts of coastal Virginia throughout the evening, according to the National Hurricane Center.
More than 2,000 people were evacuated by ferry from Ocracoke Island, part of the Outer Banks, the governor’s office said, adding that the service “will continue as long as the weather holds.”
Erin is expected to bring “powerful” waves that could reach up to 20 feet high, along with “life-threatening” surf and rip currents, forecasters warned Wednesday, leading to the closure of beaches all along the East Coast.
The warnings come days after 130 mph winds and torrential rainfall battered the Caribbean and left tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans without power, with Erin later upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane.
The hurricane formed on August 11 from a tropical wave that moved across the Cabo Verde Islands and was upgraded on August 15, becoming one of the fastest-intensifying hurricanes on record.
