H urricane Erin, now a Category 2 hurricane, has prompted a tropical storm watch for North Carolina's Outer Banks and is expected to bring dangerous waves and rip currents to beaches along the East Coast. While the storm won't make landfall on the East Coast, it has prompted mandatory evacuations for some Outer Banks residents and visitors.

With wave heights projected at 15-20 feet along stretches of the coast – and up to 22 feet offshore in the Hudson Canyon – fears of severe beach erosion and dune destruction are mounting. The National Park Service at Cape Hatteras warned that protective dune systems “will likely inundate and destroy” under the battering seas.

The Outer Banks in North Carolina are under evacuation warning as Hurricane Erin whips up potentially 20-foot high waves and flooding along the east coast.