Gov. Josh Stein to address state as Hurricane Erin threatens North Carolina coast

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – With Hurricane Erin looming off the North Carolina coast in the coming days, Governor Josh Stein is set to address the entire state on Wednesday morning to provide updates on the system that’s making its way north toward the East Coast.

Erin continues to churn as a Category 2 hurricane toward the eastern U.S. on Wednesday, stirring up treacherous waves that already have led to dozens of water rescues and shut down beaches along the coastline.

Stein’s briefing, which is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, comes one day after he issued a state of emergency ahead of Erin’s arrival. His office states that resources and personnel have been mobilized to assist along the coast while North Carolina prepares for the hurricane’s impact.

Prior to the governor’s state of emergency, local states of emergency were declared in Dare and Hyde counties. Mandatory evacuations are also in place for Ocracoke and Hatteras islands.

While forecasters remain confident the center of the monster storm will remain far offshore, the outer edges are likely to bring damaging tropical-force winds, large swells and life-threatening rip currents into Friday.

Rough ocean conditions have already been seen along the coast — at least 60 swimmers were rescued from rip currents Monday at Wrightsville Beach, near Wilmington.

Hurricane Erin is forecast to stay hundreds of miles offshore but is still sending waves 20 feet (6 meters) or greater crashing over vulnerable sand dunes on the islands.

Officials have ordered evacuations of Hatteras and Ocracoke islands even without a hurricane warning because that tiny ribbon of highway called N.C. 12 will likely be torn up and washed out in several places, isolating villages for days or weeks.

However, the biggest threat is along the barrier islands of North Carolina’s Outer Banks , where evacuations have been ordered.

According to the early Wednesday morning update from the National Hurricane Center, Erin has sustained winds of 100 miles per hour, with gusts reaching 120 miles per hour. The system is currently traveling north-northwest at 13 miles per hour.

The forecast track has seen little change, but still puts the storm about 240 miles off the North Carolina coast on Thursday.

On this current forecast path, the bulk of the impacts from Hurricane Erin will stay along the coast with simply clouds and “breezy” conditions in central North Carolina. The biggest impact on the coast will be big waves, coastal flooding and dangerous rip currents.

Erin has become an unusually large and deceptively worrisome storm, with its tropical storm winds stretching 230 miles (370 kilometers) from its core. Forecasters expect it will grow larger in size as it moves through the Atlantic and curls north.

Tropical storm and storm surge warnings have been issued for parts of the North Carolina coast in anticipation of Erin’s impacts of wind and storm surge.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report