Hurricane Erin updates: Storm weakens to Category 1, moves away from US coastline

A portion of the highway that serves North Carolina's Outer Banks is closed due to impacts from Hurricane Erin, officials said.

North Carolina Highway 12 is now closed from Oregon Inlet to Hatteras Village, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

"Unfortunately, Hurricane Erin's storm surge was too much for NC12 tonight," the department said. "Conditions are too unsafe for people to be driving in. If you come across any flood waters, turn around, don't drown."

Hurricane Erin may not make landfall, but it still could have devastating consequences for East Coast residents.

The first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season is forecast to cause rough surf, large waves and life-threatening rip currents for much of the East Coast despite churning northward several hundred miles offshore.

Average sea levels for many East Coast communities are now about a half foot higher today than they were just a few decades ago, climate scientists say, intensifying coastal erosion along the U.S. coastline.

Some of the biggest waves from Erin could occur in the evening during high tide, Kimberly McKenna, interim executive director of the Coastal Research Center at Stockton University in New Jersey, told ABC News. But states will have to "wait and see" just how harmful Erin is to the coasts, McKenna added.

Read more about Erin's potential impacts here.

Conditions across much of North Carolina’s Outer Banks will continue to deteriorate in the coming hours.

The next high tide is occurring across the Outer Banks region through 7:30 p.m.

Waves and surf will continue to build back into the coast and impacts are expected to increase over the next few hours.

-ABC News' Dan Peck

Hurricane Erin is marching north and is set to bring life-threatening rip currents, destructive waves, coastal flooding and possibly beach erosion to much of the East Coast. The conditions will last through Thursday before improving later on Friday and into Saturday.

Erin, now a Category 2 storm, could re-strengthen on Wednesday, potentially becoming a Category 3 hurricane as it tracks between the U.S. East Coast and Bermuda over the next 12-to-24 hours. Then Erin will turn out to sea and race away from the U.S.

Erin is mostly focused on North Carolina's Outer Banks, where a tropical storm warning is in effect for wind gusts that could top 40 mph. The rough surf and large waves are ramping up along the Carolina coast Wednesday afternoon.

Some of Erin’s outer bands could bring scattered showers and thunderstorms to the Outer Banks, as well. The storm surge in the Outer Banks could reach 2 to 4 feet.

Coastal flood alerts are also in effect along a large swath of the East Coast.

As Erin’s wind field continues to expand, the storm is fueling widespread, destructive surf conditions and dangerous rip currents along the coast from Florida to New York. The risk for the East Coast will last until the end of the week, prompting many beaches to ban swimming.

High surf advisories are also in effect from Florida to Maine. Waves up to 10 to 20 feet are possible along the Outer Banks and waves could reach 15 feet in the Northeast.

-ABC News’ Dan Peck