Outer Banks

Rip currents are one of the coast's greatest dangers and account for the most beach rescues every year. Hurricane Erin is bringing the potentially deadly currents to the East Coast this week. About 100 people drown from rip currents along U.S. beaches each year.

Two homes on North Carolina's Outer Banks sit precariously in high waves generated by Hurricane Erin with their days seemingly numbered. Since 2020, 11 neighboring homes have fallen into the Atlantic Ocean.

North Carolina emergency personnel say folks can still travel to areas of the coastline that aren't under evacuation orders, but people should stay out of the ocean to avoid getting swept up by strong rip currents.

From Florida to New England, people trying to enjoy some of the last hurrahs of summer along the East Coast have been met with rip current warnings, closed beaches and in some cases already treacherous waves as Hurricane Erin inches closer.

As rip tides from Hurricane Erin create dangerous conditions along the North Carolina coast, many residents and visitors have evacuated the Outer Banks, and local officials have warned people to stay away from the beaches.

Hurricane Erin is forcing evacuations on North Carolina's Outer Banks as it threatens to whip up wild waves and tropical force winds. Forecasters say the monster storm will turn away from the eastern U.S. and won't make landfall.

Hurricane Erin pelted parts of the Caribbean and was forecast to create dangerous surf and rip currents along the U.S. East Coast this week. It reintensified to a Category 4 storm with 130 mph winds and early Monday had edged closer to the Southeast Bahamas.

National parks across the U.S. are not immune to the Trump administration’s cuts, and North Carolina is already seeing the impact.

Six houses have collapsed into the waves at Rodanthe this year, and 11 in the past four years. With much of the buffering beach and dunes eaten away by erosion, more are poised to fall in any time. The question is becoming not how to save such houses, but rather how to remove them before they collapse.

The multimillion dollar project will focus on the Town of Nags Head and could improve the area’s storm response.