People trying to enjoy the last hurrahs of summer along the coast are being met on Wednesday with rip-current warnings, closed beaches and treacherous waves as Hurricane Erin inches closer, still a powerful storm as it treks northwest after lashing Turks and Caicos and Bermuda.

On Wednesday morning, 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

The 5 AM advisory on Tuesday shows that Erin continues to weaken, but it is still a major hurricane. Life-threatening surf and rip currents across the East Coast of the United States this week, as Erin passes off the coast.

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.

Hurricane Erin is forcing evacuations on North Carolina’s Outer Banks as it churns in the Atlantic where high winds and heavy rain are pelting the Turks and Caicos Islands and parts of the Bahamas.