As millions of people along the East Coast prepare for impacts from Hurricane Erin, coastal communities in New Jersey and Delaware are facing dangerous rip currents and high surf risks.

Hurricane Erin has been downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane but is gaining in size and raising the risk of life-threatening surf later this week along the U.S.

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.

Erin’s surf and storm surge could cause erosion along sections of the Florida and East Coast and shapes up as potentially worse for North Carolina’s barrier islands, which are under mandatory evacuation orders ahead of the four feet of storm surge and 20-foot offshore waves Erin is expected to bring.

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.

The beaches at Assateague Island and Ocean City, Maryland, are closed due to dangerous rip currents and high surf brought on by Hurricane Erin.

The storm will remain a major hurricane through the middle of the week, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Erin has become the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season. The quick-moving storm expected to become a strong Category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph within the next 72 hours, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center.