RODANTHE, North Carolina.With its outer bands sweeping North Carolina’s Outer Banks and beaches closing along most of the U.S. East Coast, Hurricane Erin intensified once again on Wednesday as it approached the mid-Atlantic coast.
Forecasters predict that the storm will peak on Thursday and that it may re-intensify into a major hurricane.
Suggested Videos
Erin’s outside edge is packing tropical force winds as it approaches North Carolina’s outside Banks, but it is unlikely to make landfall along the East Coast before heading farther out to sea.
Water started to flood around a few stilted houses that were perilously situated above the shore and onto the major road that connected the barrier islands. By Wednesday night, officials had blocked access to Ocracoke Island’s ferry terminal and closed Highway 12 on Hatteras Island due to rising waves and surge.
In addition to whipping up life-threatening rip currents from Florida to New England, authorities anticipate that the biggest swells during high tide may shut off villages and vacation houses on the Outer Banks.
Swimming was prohibited on New York City’s beaches on Wednesday and Thursday. Additionally, a few beaches in Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey will be temporarily closed. Low-lying sections of Long Island and portions of New York City are predicted to experience widespread, moderate coastal flooding as a result of the storm.
Later this week, Nantucket Island off Massachusetts may experience waves as high as 10 feet (3 meters). However, the greatest danger persisted along the Outer Banks, where locals seemed unconcerned.
Jacob Throne, who lives on Hatteras Island and works for surf shops, said, “I don’t think it’s going to be that bad because I remember taking canoes out of my front yard to get to school.”
Erin was providing strong waves for the East Coast Surfing Championships and the kind of swells that many residents hadn’t seen in a long time, so surfers flocked to Virginia Beach’s waterfront.
Henry Thompson, a competitor in the open long board contest, claimed that we are infamous for lacking waves. Usually, a surf competition is canceled because there are no waves or it is held in extremely terrible waves.
When Erin blows straight off the Virginia coast on Thursday, the finals will come to a halt. However, Thompson stated that in the upcoming months, he anticipates more hurricanes and excellent surfing.
Some swimmers were still disregarding the warnings even when beaches were closed elsewhere. A day after more than 80 people were rescued, rescuers on Tuesday rescued over a dozen people who were entangled in rip currents at Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina.
Even if someone believes they know how to handle a rip current, it’s still not safe, according to National Weather Service forecaster Bob Oravec.
He said, “You can be as aware as you like.” It may still be harmful.
North Carolina officials issued a warning on Wednesday that coastal flooding could occur in numerous beachside areas due to a mix of strong winds and enormous waves that are predicted to be around 20 feet (6.1 meters).
According to Will Ray, the state’s emergency management director, dangerous situations can be felt far from the eye, particularly with a system as big as Erin.
According to David Hallac, superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, dozens of beach houses that are already dilapidated by long-term beach erosion and protective dunes may be in danger.
Two tropical disturbances east of Erin are also being monitored by the National Hurricane Center and have the potential to become named cyclones. Hurricanes known as Cape Verde storms are among the most destructive that threaten North America because of the warm ocean water that stretches for thousands of miles.
Despite orders to evacuate the Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands, the majority of inhabitants in the Outer Banks chose to remain.
“If it was coming straight at us, we probably wouldn’t stay,” said Rob Temple, who runs sailboat trips on Ocracoke.
Whether visitors and delivery trucks will be cut off from the narrow strip of low-lying islands that are becoming more and more susceptible to storm surges, as well as whether the main route will be wiped out, were his top concerns.
With its tropical storm winds spanning 500 miles (800 kilometers), or nearly the lengths from New York City to Pittsburgh, Erin has grown into an extremely large and deceptively worrisome storm.
According to the National Hurricane Center, it was still a powerful Category 2 hurricane on Wednesday, with maximum sustained winds of about 110 mph (180 kph). Erin was roughly 245 miles (394 kilometers) southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
While residents and visitors in Bermuda were advised to avoid the water due to the possibility of strong seas until Friday, tropical storm warnings were issued for North Carolina and Virginia.
Warmer waters are making it considerably more likely for Atlantic hurricanes to quickly build into strong, destructive storms, according to climate experts.
___
From Toledo, Ohio, Seewer provided a report. Contributions were made by Associated Press journalists Julie Walker in New York, Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut; Ben Finley in Norfolk; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina.
