By Tuesday morning, Erin had lost some strength from previous days and dropped to a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph (175 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

Much of North Carolina’s Outer Banks region is under a tropical storm watch with Hurricane Erin expected to skirt the area Wednesday through Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Evacuation orders were issued in North Carolina Tuesday as Hurricane Erin continued to swirl upward across the Atlantic Ocean and two disturbances followed behind it.

Millions of people up and down the East Coast have been told to prepare for impacts from Hurricane Erin as the monster Category 2 hurricane continues on its journey across the Atlantic, bringing it close to the U.

Hurricane 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. Here's the latest forecast:

Hurricane Erin is moving east of the U.S. coast and will bring strong waves and rip currents to Florida's east coast – and it comes as the National Hurricane Center is eyeing two more tropical waves in the Atlantic.

While Erin won't hit the U.S. directly, the storm's biggest impact on the East Coast will be along the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where coastal flood watches, tropical storm watches and storm surge watches are in effect. The storm surge could be as high as 4 feet.

Dangerous rip currents are expected along the U.S. East Coast as Hurricane Erin grows in size this week, the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday.

Hurricane Erin forced tourists to cut their vacations short on North Carolina’s Outer Banks even though the monster storm is expected to stay offshore after lashing part of the Caribbean with rain and wind on Monday.

Holly Andrzejewski hadn’t yet welcomed her and her family’s first guests to the Atlantic Inn on Hatteras Island when she had to start rescheduling them, as Hurricane Erin neared North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Tuesday and threatened to whip up wild waves and tropical force winds.

Erin is the first hurricane to develop over the Atlantic this year, and meteorologists are closely tracking its path and forecast.