Holly Andrzejewski hadn’t yet welcomed her and her family’s first guests to the Atlantic Inn on Hatteras Island when she had to start rescheduling them, as Hurricane Erin neared North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Tuesday and threatened to whip up wild waves and tropical force winds.

Powerful Hurricane Erin to bring high seas, big waves, rip currents and rough surf as it moves between the United States and Bermuda.

Erin’s surf and storm surge could cause erosion along sections of the Florida and East Coast and shapes up as potentially worse for North Carolina’s barrier islands, which are under mandatory evacuation orders ahead of the four feet of storm surge and 20-foot offshore waves Erin is expected to bring.

Dare County officials have issued a mandatory evacuation of Zone A of Hatteras Island due to the potential for life-threatening impacts from Hurricane Erin, with coastal flooding and ocean overwash expected to begin on August 19th and continue through August 21st.

The Atlantic basin includes the northern Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of America, as the Gulf of Mexico is now known in the U.S. per an order from President Trump. NOAA and the National Hurricane Center are now using Gulf of America on its maps and in its advisories.

Erin won't make landfall in the Northeast, but it will bring some impacts due to the hurricane's enormous size.

Hurricane Erin, the first major hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, rapidly intensified Friday night, with the storm now reaching Category 4 strength with sustained winds of 155 mph.

5 p.m. Update: Erin is now organizing and strengthening over the Central Atlantic. Erin is expected to become at least a Catgory 3 hurricane but missing Puerto Rico to the north and staying well east of Florida. It is expected to reach Jacksonville’s latitude about early Wednesday, resulting in some rough seas and surf at area beaches next week.