Hurricane Erin moving along the US East Coast threatens to isolate the vulnerable barrier islands of North Carolina and has prompted evacuations.
Erin, the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season, reached Category 5 designation and knocked out power in Puerto Rico over the weekend, before downgrading to a Category 2 on Tuesday morning.
It is forecast to remain hundreds of miles offshore and travel northeasterly along the East Coast, instead of making landfall.
But Erin is still forecast to send massive, 20-foot waves toward the Outer Banks, a delicate string of barrier islands between North Carolina and southeastern Virginia.
‘We haven’t seen waves of that size in a while and the vulnerable spots have only gotten weaker in the past five years,’ said Coastal Studies Institute executive director Reide Corbett.
Despite no hurricane warning in effect, evacuation orders have been issued for Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. The only road, NC 12, is expected to be battered and washed over, which means villages there could be isolated from the US mainland for days or even weeks.
The Outer Banks are already constantly eroding. At least two vacated homes in the town of Rodanthe, which is the farthest out into the Atlantic Ocean, could be swallowed by Erin’s waves if they strike as large as has been estimated.
Since 2020, a dozen Rodanthe homes have been lost to the ocean.
The Outer Banks are home to about 3,500 people.
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