Hurricane Erin made a sudden shift in trajectory as Category 2 winds raced towards the U.S. East Coast.
Days after 130mph winds and torrential rainfall battered the Caribbean and left tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans without power, fears grew that Erin would slam into the U.S. as a Category 2 hurricane this week.
In an early morning advisory on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami confirmed the storm was unlikely to make U.S. landfall after veering northwest toward open waters.
Erin’s winds weakened to 100mph by 5 a.m. ET, as it churned over the Atlantic Ocean about 455 miles south-south-east from the North Carolina coast.
While the East Coast has been spared the cyclone’s full force, the National Hurricane Center issued a blizzard of warnings, including “life-threatening surf and rip currents” for the U.S., Bahamas, Bermuda, and Atlantic Canada throughout this week.
Storm surge-induced flooding and tropical storm conditions, including bruising winds and heavy rains, were expected to begin on Wednesday in the North Carolina Outer Banks.
Along with large swells, 4ft waves were expected to spill