Hurricane Erin made a sudden shift in trajectory as Category 2 winds raced towards the U.S. East Coast.
Days after 130mph winds and torrential rainfall battered the Caribbean and left tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans without power, fears grew that Erin would slam into the U.S. as a Category 2 hurricane this week.
In an early morning advisory on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami confirmed the storm was unlikely to make U.S. landfall after veering northwest toward open waters.
Erin’s winds weakened to 100mph by 5 a.m. ET, as it churned over the Atlantic Ocean about 455 miles south-south-east from the North Carolina coast.
While the East Coast has been spared the cyclone’s full force, the National Hurricane Center issued a blizzard of warnings, including “life-threatening surf and rip currents” for the U.S., Bahamas, Bermuda, and Atlantic Canada throughout this week.
Storm surge-induced flooding and tropical storm conditions, including bruising winds and heavy rains, were expected to begin on Wednesday in the North Carolina Outer Banks.
Along with large swells, 4ft waves were expected to spill over sea walls, making some roads “impassable.”
New York City closed its beaches to swimming on Wednesday and Thursday, and Governor Kathy Hochul ordered three state beaches on Long Island to prohibit swimming through Thursday.
Off Massachusetts, Nantucket Island could see waves of more than 10 feet later this week.
Tropical storm conditions could strike Virginia’s southeastern coast and Bermuda on Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said.
The National Hurricane Center warned that strong winds were possible between Thursday and Saturday in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern New England coasts and Atlantic Canada.
Mandatory evacuations were ordered for Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island in the Outer Banks ahead of the expected flooding.
The worst conditions were expected late Wednesday through Thursday as the eye of the storm is likely to be at the closest point to the coast, carving a path between the East Coast and Bermuda.
Erin is expected to grow with tropical-storm-force winds extending 265 miles from its center before it is expected to begin weakening by Friday, the agency said.
Satellite imagery and reports from a U.S. Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicated that Erin “is getting better organized, and slow strengthening is expected through Thursday night.”
Erin, the first Atlantic hurricane of 2025, exploded to a ferocious Category 5 on Saturday before being downgraded to a Category 3 early Sunday morning, then regaining strength again later in the day.
The storm brought flooding, rainfall, high surf, and strong winds across Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the northern Leeward Islands.
Lifeguards in North Carolina made more than 75 rescues from rip currents along the Wrightsville area coastline on Monday, prompting a no-swim order through Friday, according to the Wilmington Star-News.
By Tuesday, it lashed the Turks and Caicos Islands, where government services were suspended and residents were ordered to stay home, along with parts of the Bahamas.
