The beaches at Ocean City, Maryland, and Assateague Island reopened for surfers on Friday morning, but remained closed for swimmers as rip tides continue, brought on by Hurricane Erin. 

The closures were announced on Tuesday, Aug. 19, as the state began to see impacts from the storm. Erin has since been downgraded from a Category 2 on Thursday to a Category 1 on Friday morning.

The storm did not make landfall in the U.S., but moved north, parallel to the East Coast. The National Hurricane Center expects Erin to become "post-tropical" by Friday night. 

As of Friday morning, Hurricane Erin had sustained winds of 90 mph as it moved northeast. The storm was about 425 miles southwest of Halifax, Canada. 

Ocean City beach conditions 

On Friday morning, Ocean City Police said rip tides continue to be extremely dangerous, despite the sunny weather. Swimming and wading past your ankles is prohibited until further notice. 

Rir currents peaked on Thursday, as Erin passed the coast near Maryland and Delaware. Breaking waves reached 8 feet near the beaches, while waves peaked near 10 to 20 feet offshore. The conditions also brought some coastal flooding during high tide and a risk of beach erosion.

 On Friday, the waves at Ocean City were near 4 to 8 feet.

"A rip current, a wave set comes in, and suddenly—I mean immediately—you can all of a sudden feel it pulling you backwards," said Butch Arbin, captain of the Ocean City Beach Patrol. "The fact is, a fast-running rip actually can flow faster than an Olympic swimmer can swim." 

Beach conditions on Assateague Island 

As of Friday morning, swimming is still prohibited on Assateague Island, on both the Maryland and Virginia sides. The island has over 30 miles of beach. 

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said ocean conditions were rough Friday morning, with a high rip current risk, dangerous surf and some lingering large waves.  

While swimming is not allowed, surfing, bodyboarding with fins and wading up to your knees are allowed, the DNR said. 

The conditions are expected to continue through the weekend. 

According to the National Park Service (NPS), the Oversand Vehicle areas in Maryland and Virginia are closed due to flooding and beach erosion, NPS said. 

All of the Oceanside Beaches are closed to water activities due to dangerous rip current conditions and high surf, and parking lots at Chincoteague Beach are partially closed.

Find more information about closures at Assateague Island here.

For those worried about Assateague's beloved horses, Hawthorne said the conditions weren't much of a problem for the longtime island residents. 

"The horses are used to it; they've lived for many generations on the island," he said. "Minor hurricanes are not an issue for them. They'll just hunker down, they'll go back into the forest and hang out wherever they can get out of the wind."