Most of the tourists have left Ocracoke Island, and the surfers are watching closely as deadly rip currents lurk below the waves.

Two more tropical systems trail Hurricane Erin, which is following a projected course that brushes past the East Coast without making landfall.

Hurricane Erin is churning slowly toward the eastern U.S. coast and stirring up waves that already have forced residents of North Carolina's Outer Banks to evacuate.

Officials have ordered evacuations of Hatteras and Ocracoke islands even without a hurricane warning because that tiny ribbon of highway called N.C. 12 will likely be torn up and washed out in several places,

By Tuesday morning, Erin had lost some strength from previous days and dropped to a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph (175 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

Charlotte Fire has activated its Urban Search and Rescue team to support response efforts as Hurricane Erin approaches the North Carolina coast, deploying the team to Edenton with boats, high water vehicles,