Hurricane Erin is forcing evacuations on North Carolina’s Outer Banks as it churns in the Atlantic where high winds and heavy rain are pelting the Turks and Caicos Islands and parts of the Bahamas.

Hurricane Erin continues to churn in the Atlantic waters hundreds of miles off the U.S., prompting officials to close beaches along the East Coast from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast.

Much of the North Carolina coast, including the Outer Banks, is under tropical storm and storm surge warnings as Hurricane Erin churns as a Category 2 storm. The