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.

Storm surge warnings and tropical storm warnings have been issued in part of North Carolina, and conditions are starting to deteriorate as Erin lurks off the East Coast of the United States.

A tropical storm warning has been issued for North Carolina as Hurricane Erin churns up the east coast of the U.S. as a Category 2 storm.