Hurricane Erin, churning north in the Atlantic hundreds of miles offshore, is expected to trigger a dangerous storm surge and tropical storm conditions on Wednesday along North Carolina’s Outer Banks and other stretches of the U.S. East Coast. Alex Cohen has more.

Outer bands from Hurricane Erin are expected to bring worsening conditions to the coast of North Carolina by this evening, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center. The Category 2 storm is continuing to move north-northwest and the center was located about 444 miles east of Daytona Beach at 8 a.m.

Hurricane Erin weakened to a Category 3 hurricane during the early hours of Aug. 19 as it moves closer to the East Coast, according to the National Hurricane Center. As of 5 a.m. Aug. 19, Erin was located 675 miles southwest of Bermuda and 750 miles from Cape Hatteras,