KITTY HAWK, N.C. – Hurricane Erin intensified into a dangerous Category 4 storm on Monday with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 kph), prompting mandatory evacuations on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Despite forecasters’ confidence that the storm’s center will remain offshore, authorities have issued warnings for life-threatening coastal conditions, according to reports from The Associated Press and Fox Weather.
“You’re dealing with a major hurricane. The intensity is fluctuating. It’s a dangerous hurricane in any event,” said Richard Pasch, a forecaster with the National Hurricane Center.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami stated that the storm is churning across the Atlantic and is expected to bring tropical-storm-force winds, dangerous waves, and rip currents to the coast of North Carolina. Coastal flooding is expected to begin as early as Tuesday and could continue through Thursday, per Dare County Emergency Management. Officials are concerned that the combination of heavy surf and high winds could wash out parts of the main highway, Highway 12, on Ocracoke and Hatteras islands, making some routes impassable for several days.
Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island, affecting both visitors and residents. The evacuations began on Monday at the height of the tourist season on the low-lying barrier islands that are particularly vulnerable to storm surges. The National Weather Service warned that the impacts would be “extremely dangerous” for parts of Coastal Eastern North Carolina, emphasizing that significant impacts will occur well away from the storm’s center.
Hurricane Erin, the first Atlantic hurricane of the year, had previously reached an even more powerful Category 5 status on Saturday before weakening to Category 4. According to The Guardian, the storm’s outer bands had already knocked out power lines in Puerto Rico and lashed the Virgin Islands with heavy rains and tropical-storm-force winds over the weekend.
Richard Pasch of the National Hurricane Center emphasized the seriousness of the situation. “You’re dealing with a major hurricane,” Pasch said, according to the AP. “The intensity is fluctuating. It’s a dangerous hurricane in any event.”
While Erin is not forecast to make a direct landfall, its massive wind field is expected to grow, spreading dangerous conditions far from its core. The NHC predicts the storm will turn northward and then northeastward, passing between Bermuda and the U.S. East Coast in the coming days.
