Hurricane Erin forced tourists to cut their vacations short on North Carolina’s Outer Banks even though the monster storm is expected to stay offshore after lashing part of the Caribbean with rain and wind on Monday.

As Hurricane Erin grows in size, impacts from the storm’s intensity will be felt “well outside” the storm’s center, including in Hampton Roads. The storm’s impacts

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.

Two homes on North Carolina's Outer Banks sit precariously in high waves generated by Hurricane Erin with their days seemingly numbered.

As the edges of Hurricane Erin get closer to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, much attention has been placed on Highway 12, a roughly 150-mile-long byway that connects that state’s islands and peninsulas. It is beloved by locals and tourists because of its scenic views of the ocean, sand dunes and old lighthouses.

Dramatic aerial footage shows storm surge flooding homes and a motel in North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Aug. 19 as Hurricane Erin battered the coast. Officials ordered evacuations in Dare County, warning of life-threatening winds and rising waters.

The Outer Banks' remote beaches, dunes and oceanfront houses, are among the "most dynamic natural landscapes occupied by man," U.S. Geological Survey scientists wrote in 2016. As Erin tracked north,