Despite not making landfall, Hurricane Erin is forcing mandatory evacuation orders in parts of North Carolina and is expected to cause rip currents for days along the U.S. East Coast.

North Carolina

Hurricane Erin, currently classified as a category two storm, is moving northward off the U.S. East Coast, prompting mandatory evacuations in parts of North Carolina's Outer Banks. The storm's large wind field is generating dangerous rip currents and high waves from Florida to New England, with beach closures and red flag warnings in effect across several states.

Authorities are preparing for significant coastal impacts, including potential flooding, road damage, and power outages due to strong winds and storm surge. Residents and visitors are being urged to stay out of the water, as rip currents have already led to dozens of rescues and fatalities this year.

Hurricane Erin forces evacuations on U.S. East Coast

All right, let's begin this morning with Hurricane Aaron, which is wreaking havoc along the east coast. As it barrels north, you can see why. Here's the storm from space. It's a category to hundreds of miles offshore, but it is massive and it's expected to cause rip currents for days all the way from florida to new England. Mandatory evacuation orders are in place for parts of North Carolina. CBS News meteorologist Rob Marciano is on the outer banks. Rob, good morning. Hey, good morning, Vlad. Well, Hurricane Eric still a ways out there, but the winds are beginning to pick up. It's been a beautiful sunrise, but the Atlantic boy, goodness, it is just punishing this coastline. Look at this surf. We've got 5 to 10 at some point, 12 footers only increasing here. Obviously those dangerous rip currents that you mentioned and these waves are just eating away at this beach. Look at some of these homes. We got 123 homes of several here that are on the brink. These homeowners have evacuated. They're just hoping and praying because they know that the worst of Hurricane Aaron is coming in the next 24 hours. This morning, Hurricane Aaron's winds are expanding as it churns toward the U. S. It's massive swells slamming the eastern seaboard, causing dangerous rip currents and shutting down beaches. I mean, everybody should be concerned. An olympic swimmer would not be able to fight the power of a rip current in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Dozens of rescues already this week, despite warnings to stay out of the water. People don't really realize how dangerous it is. It's a nice day. It's hot and they want to get into the ocean. But again, it poses a great danger. Similar precautions are being taken 600 miles north in New Jersey. CBS is Meg Oliver is there. Swimming is banned along much of the Jersey Shore with red flag warnings in effect. We're already feeling strong winds and waves up to 10 ft high with the worst of Aaron yet to come. We go down our whole checklist as if we were getting a direct hit from any storm. So we've been doing all the storm preparation that we would normally do. Bobby Alton is a dare County manager overseeing North Carolina's outer banks. A popular tourist spot is under mandatory evacuations. Alton says the powerful winds even miles offshore could be devastating. A major hurricane being offshore is probably more damage into this area than a category one that makes a direct hit. Well, you run from the water and that's what our problem is going to be is that the waves are going to be huge that come in. They're going to create a lot of overwash may damage the roads. And so those things call us the problems they call us the flooding and it doesn't matter whether it hits us or doesn't. If you get that volume of water, it's a problem. They are prepping as if this is making a direct landfall. That's just what they do. They've had heavy equipment out trying to shore up some of the dunes along Highway 12 because they know that this water at some point it's already doing a cut. We'll cut through some of these dunes and over top some of those roadways and some of these areas will be cut off from the mainland. All right, let's show you where Hurricane Aaron is right now. About 450 miles from where I stand. It's a category two storm on. We've got another area development we got to worry about as well. So it's moving north northwesterly about 13 miles an hour picking up steam and it will be here in the next 24 hours. But those rip currents have been impacting florida all the way to southern New England for several days now and that will continue for several more days. And now the winds are going to get close. That wind field is expanding. So we've got that that's pushing up the waves. We could see 20 to 21 footers here by this time tomorrow morning. That is going to be devastating stuff. And these waves are going to propagate all the way up to the eastern seaboard, including New England, 12 footers coming friday morning. So several more days of this to come and the winds will be at tropical storm force also. So we have tropical storm warnings that have now been expanded to the Virginia border. We could see winds 50 60 mile an hour here and that will continue to maybe even take down some trees and some power lines. So the watches and warnings have been expanded up towards the north and the surge is going to be an issue as well as that wind field expands right now. The hurricane force winds are over 140 miles. The tropical storm force winds will be 60 600 miles across. So that's going to be a massive wind field and these rip current skies already this year we've seen 30 fatalities. All right, so we just please stay out of the water until this storm is done. We don't need any more deaths. Gail, you're exactly right about that. Aaron making quite an impression. Thank you rob.

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