Outer Banks, Hurricane Erin and North Carolina
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Hurricane Erin's path will not bring its strongest winds ashore. However, it continues to grow in size, and its impacts from high surf, rip currents and coastal flooding are already increasing along parts of the East Coast.
On Wednesday, Hurricane Erin was several hundred miles off the coast of Florida and beginning to push storm surge and deadly rip currents toward the shore. Two other systems may form right behind.
The Category 2 hurricane saw its winds weaken to as low as 100 mph on Aug. 19 as its north side battled winds, but the National Hurricane Center said early on Aug. 20 that the storm had reformed an inner eye wall, and a Hurricane Hunter mission this morning is expected to help the center determine if winds have increased in response.
Much of the North Carolina coast, including the Outer Banks, is under tropical storm and storm surge warnings as Hurricane Erin churns as a Category 2 storm. The tropical storm warning extends from downeast Carteret County,