Early Monday, the storm strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane, packing maximum sustained winds of 130 mph as it approached the southeastern Bahamas, the NHC reported.

Much of North Carolina’s Outer Banks region is under a tropical storm watch with Hurricane Erin expected to skirt the area Wednesday through Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Storm surge flooding and tropical storm conditions from Hurricane Erin are forecast for the Outer Banks of North Carolina starting Wednesday evening. At 5 p.

Hurricane Erin was a Category 4 storm with 130 mph winds on Monday night as it passed to the east of the Bahamas. The forecast track keeps the center of the storm well away from the U.S. East Coast this week, but tropical storm and storm surge watches have been issued for the North Carolina Outer Banks. National Hurricane Center

Hurricane Erin has strengthened into a Category 2 storm as it approaches Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, bringing heavy rains that could cause flooding and landslides.

As Hurricane Erin grows in size, impacts from the storm’s intensity will be felt “well outside” the storm’s center, including in Hampton Roads. The storm’s impacts

Erin’s surf and storm surge could cause erosion along sections of the Florida and East Coast and shapes up as potentially worse for North Carolina’s barrier islands, which are under mandatory evacuation orders ahead of the four feet of storm surge and 20-foot offshore waves Erin is expected to bring.

RODANTHE, N.C. (AP) — Hurricane Erin chugged slowly toward the eastern U.S. coast Tuesday, stirring up treacherous waves that already have forced dozens of beach rescues days before the biggest storm surges are expected.