Hurricane Erin forecast to churn up dangerous winds from Florida to New England

Hurricane Erin chugged slowly toward the eastern U.S. coast Tuesday, stirring up treacherous waves that already have forced dozens of beach rescues days before the biggest storm surges are expected.

While forecasters remain confident the center of the monster storm will remain far offshore, the outer edges are likely to bring damaging tropical-force winds, large swells and life-threatening rip currents.

Warnings about rip currents have been posted from Florida to the New England coast, but the biggest threat is along the barrier islands of North Carolina’s Outer Banks where evacuations have been ordered.

Off the coast of Massachusetts, Nantucket Island could see waves of more than 10 feet later this week. In New Jersey, towns are closing some beaches to swimming.

Erin has become an unusually large and deceptively worrisome storm while moving through the Caribbean, with its tropical storm winds stretching 200 miles from its core. Forecasters expect it will grow larger in size as it moves through the Atlantic and curls north.

By Tuesday, Erin had lost some strength from previous days and dropped to a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. It was about 650 miles southwest of Bermuda.

Rough ocean conditions already have been seen along the U.S. coast — at least 60 swimmers were rescued from rip currents Monday at Wrightsville Beach, near Wilmington, North Carolina.

The biggest swells along the East Coast are expected to develop Wednesday and last into Thursday.

On North Carolina’s Outer Banks, local leaders said Erin’s storm surge could swamp roads with waves of 15 feet. Mandatory evacuations were ordered on Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands, and more than 1,800 people had left Ocracoke by ferry since Monday.

Bulldozers were busy shoring up the dunes, and on Hatteras, the owners of a pier removed a few planks, hoping the storm surge will pass through without tearing up the structure.