Meteorologists are closely tracking the projected path and forecast of Hurricane Erin, which is the first hurricane to develop over the Atlantic this year.

On North Carolina’s Outer Banks, barrier islands that stretch over 175 miles, coastal flooding was expected to begin Tuesday and continue through Thursday. Two of the four counties on the Outer

Hurricane Erin has strengthened to a Category 4 storm as it threatens to bring life-threatening surf and rip currents to the eastern coast of the United States. The rains caused by the storm are already beginning to hit the south-eastern Bahamas, and the Turk and Caicos Islands, where a tropical storm warning is in effect.