Hurricane Erin brings tropical storm conditions to Outer Banks before starting to move away
Hurricane Erin battered North Carolina's Outer Banks with strong winds and waves that flooded part of the main highway and surged under beachfront homes before the huge storm slowly began to move farther away from the East Coast early Thursday.
Tropical storm conditions were still evident in parts of the Outer Banks and along the coast of Virginia, according the National Hurricane Center. Forecasters warned that large waves would likely cause significant beach erosion and block some roads.
As Erin's outer bands brushed the Outer Banks, water poured onto the main route connecting the barrier islands and a handful of stilted homes precariously perched above the beach. Highway 12 on Hatteras Island remained closed Thursday, after officials shut it down Wednesday evening as the storm surge increased and waves rose. Ocracoke Island's connection to its ferry terminal was also cut off.
Highway 12 completely submerged north of Hatteras Village, as seen by webcams from NCDOT. The next two high tide cycles will likely bring more severe overwash than what we've seen so far this evening. pic.twitter.com/ihNOsFfZUA
— NWS Newport/Morehead (@NWSMoreheadCity) August 21, 2025
Many tourists and residents evacuated the Outer Banks ahead of the tropical storm conditions, but some, like 96-year-old Carol Dillon, stayed behind.
Dillon has never fled from a storm, she said.
"I have a three-story house. So if it got that high, I'd definitely be dead," she told CBS News national weather correspondent Rob Marciano.
Dillon has owned the Outer Banks Motel for seven decades. She's been fighting against the eroding shoreline since 1955, she said. But now her buildings are up against a national park and can't be rebuilt any farther back.
"We could wash away completely," she said. Asked what can be done to protect the motel, she said, "We pray a lot."
Forecasters predicted Erin would peak Thursday and said it could regain strength and once again become a major hurricane, Category 3 or greater, as it moves northeast over the Atlantic.
Erin affecting more of the East Coast
Elsewhere on the East Coast, beaches remained closed to swimming Thursday in New York City. Some others in New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware were also temporarily off-limits. Widespread, moderate coastal flooding was forecast for low-lying areas of Long Island and parts of New York City.
Off Massachusetts, Nantucket Island could see waves of more than 10 feet this week.
In Bermuda, residents and tourists were told to stay out of the water with rough seas expected through Friday, forecasters said.
Erin has become an unusually large and deceptively worrisome system, with tropical storm-force winds continuing to spread some 320 miles from the storm's center early Thursday, according to the hurricane center. It remained a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of around 105 mph.
The hurricane center on Thursday was also watching two tropical disturbances far out in the Atlantic that could develop into named storms in coming days. With thousands of miles of warm ocean water, hurricanes known as Cape Verde storms are some of the most dangerous that threaten North America.
Climate scientists say Atlantic hurricanes are now much more likely to rapidly intensify into powerful and catastrophic storms, fueled by warmer oceans.