Hurricane Erin is marching north, lashing North Carolina's Outer Banks with rough waves and coastal flooding, and bringing a threat of dangerous waves and potentially deadly rip currents to the East Coast. Hurricane Erin is about 260 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and is quickly moving away from the East Coast.

Meteorologists are closely tracking the projected path and forecast of Hurricane Erin, which is the first hurricane to develop over the Atlantic this year.

A powerful and sprawling Hurricane Erin continued lashing hundreds of miles of coastline along the Eastern Seaboard with its outer bands Thursday morning, proving a storm of such size doesn't need to make landfall to bring widespread impacts.

Hurricane Erin, now a Category 2 hurricane, won't make landfall on the U.S. East Coast, but it will impact residents and visitors at North Carolina's Outer Banks.

Hurricane Erin is moving closer to the U.S. coast at the start of the workweek. Strong wind and big waves will cause problems for our North Carolina beaches as summer vacations continue.

According to the National Weather Service, Wrightsville Beach Ocean Rescue is reporting very strong rip currents, and up to 70 rip current rescues have taken place on Monday, Aug. 18. Red flags are flying at Wrightsville Beach today, alerting beachgoers not to swim because of dangerous rip currents after 50 rip current rescues.