(The Center Square) – Hurricane Erin has made its brush with the North Carolina coast and is crawling out into the Atlantic Ocean.
The storm that climbed from Category 1 to 5 in less than 24 hours last weekend was a very wide Category 2 in morning updates Thursday from the National Hurricane Center. At 11 a.m., the sustained hurricane force winds of 74 mph or greater extended 105 miles from its core and sustained tropical storm force winds of 39 mph or greater were 320 miles from the center.
Erin was 205 miles east of Cape Hatteras at the 5 a.m. update, 210 at the 8 a.m. update and had moved to 260 miles east three hours later. The storm is traveling north-northeast at 18 mph, still causing dangerous life-threatening surf and rip currents along the Atlantic Seaboard from the Carolinas to New England.
Erin was at maximum sustained winds of 100 mph at 11 a.m., down from 105 mph at 8 a.m.
The Hurricane Center said, “A faster northeastward to east-northeastward motion is expected during the next couple of days. On the forecast track, the center of Erin will move over the western Atlantic between the U.S. East Coast and Bermuda through early Friday and then pass south of Atlantic Canada Friday and Saturday.”
The storm has peaked in intensity. Post-tropical status is forecast for Saturday.
Two ferries that are connectors on the 148-mile N.C. 12 highway on the Outer Banks were shut down on Wednesday and the road had impassable parts on Thursday. Water began to go over it as early as Tuesday evening in Buxton. Published reports say an oceanside motel sustained damage from the storm surge that had been forecast for 2 to 4 feet.
Waves Thursday morning at Erin’s peak brush with North Carolina were estimated at 18 feet. Minor to moderate flooding was reported on the Pamlico Sound at U.S. Coast Guard Hatteras.
Overwash was reported by the North Carolina Department of Transportation along N.C. 12 at Rodanthe, Ocracoke, Hatteras, the north end of Buxton, and Pea Island.
In the 11 a.m. advisory from the Hurricane Center, a storm surge warning remained in effect from Cape Lookout to Duck; and a tropical storm warning was in effect for the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds and from Beaufort Inlet to Chincoteague, Va.
The Hurricane Center said, “Wind gusts to tropical storm force are likely along portions of the remainder of the U.S. Mid-Atlantic and southern New England coasts today through early Friday. Gusts to gale force are possible along the coast of Nova Scotia on Friday and the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland on Saturday.”
The storm’s landfall miss of the state is particularly welcome in light of Hurricane Helene. Recovery from that storm begins its 48th week this weekend. Helene killed 107 in the state, 236 across seven states in the South, and caused an estimated $60 billion in damage to North Carolina.
