Hurricane Erin live updates: New Jersey under state of emergency as three more potential tropical storms being tracked – UK Times

Two homes on North Carolina’s Outer Banks are teetering on the brink, their days seemingly numbered as they face the relentless Atlantic.

Since 2020, 11 neighbouring properties in the area have already succumbed to the ocean’s advance. While swells from distant storms like Hurricane Erin exacerbate the immediate danger, the underlying threats are constant: escalating beach erosion and the pervasive impact of climate change are steadily pushing the coastline inwards.

Hurricane Erin battered North Carolina’s Outer Banks with strong winds and waves that flooded part of the main highway and surged under beachfront homes as the monster storm inched closer to the mid-Atlantic coast.

Forecasters predicted the storm would peak Thursday and said it could regain strength and once again become a major hurricane, or Category 3 or greater, but it was not forecast to make landfall along the East Coast before turning farther out to sea.

Here’s a look at Hurricane Erin’s path past the East Coast of the U.S.

The space agency, in collaboration with the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program, a science and education initiative, is spearheading a new Response Mapper project.

Hurricane Erin, formed nearly a week ago, remains an unusually large storm, spanning over 600 miles (965 kilometres) – double the size of an average hurricane – despite fluctuating intensity.

As of late Thursday morning, the hurricane centre reported Erin as a Category 2 storm, maintaining maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (160 kph). It is 285 miles (455 kilometres) east of Cape Hatteras.

The hurricane centre is also monitoring two tropical disturbances further out in the Atlantic. These ‘Cape Verde’ storms, developing over vast warm ocean waters, are historically among the most perilous to North America.

A video posted to X by TV news journalist Jason Evans appears to show the streets of Margate, New Jersey, inundated with the storm surge from Hurricane Erin.

Coastal communities along North Carolina’s Outer Banks faced an anxious Thursday morning as waves were estimated to reach heights of 5.5 meters (18 feet). The region, characterised by its low-lying sand dunes just a few feet above sea level, is particularly susceptible to the destructive power of storm surges, which can carve new inlets, wash vast amounts of sand and debris onto roads, and even damage infrastructure.

However, Dare County Manager Bobby Outten offered a measure of relief, stating that one of their gravest fears – the formation of new inlets – had not materialised with the storm Erin. Crucially, no significant structural damage was reported to homes or businesses.

“All in all, it’s not as bad as it could have been,” Outten said. “Hopefully, the worst of it is behind us.”

The Hatteras Island Rescue Squad, a volunteer group, also confirmed they received no calls for rescues from Wednesday night through Thursday morning.

Despite the avoided catastrophe, the powerful waves did breach dunes on Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands, leading to the closure of sections of Highway 12, the area’s primary thoroughfare. Ocracoke’s vital connection to its ferry terminal was also severed.