RODANTHE, N.C. — Strong winds and waves battered Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard and dangerous rip currents threatened from the Carolinas to New England as Hurricane Erin made its way farther out to sea.
The storm was forecast to cause possible coastal flooding into the weekend along the East Coast but was also expected to lose strength gradually. The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported early Friday that Erin had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph (150 kph), and was located about 425 miles (680 kilometers) south-southwest of Halifax, Novia Scotia.
Despite being twice the size of an average hurricane, Erin so far has managed to thread the needle through the Atlantic between the East Coast and several island nations, limiting its destructiveness.
On North Carolina’s Outer Banks, waves breached dunes in the town of Kill Devil Hills on Thursday evening, and water and sand pooled on Highway 12.
Although damage assessments were still underway, the low-lying islands appeared to have dodged widespread trouble.
A tropical storm warning was lifted for Bermuda, where residents and tourists had been told to stay out of the water through Friday. Warnings along the coasts of North Carolina and Virginia were also discontinued.
Communities along the mid-Atlantic and southern New England coast could see tropical storm-force wind gusts through early Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The National Weather Service issued coastal flood warnings for places as far north as the Mid-Atlantic and New England coasts, saying that some roads could be made impassable.
Beaches were closed to swimming Thursday in New York City, but more than a dozen surfers still rode waves at Rockaway Beach in Queens. Scott Klossner, who lives nearby, said conditions were great for experienced surfers.
“You wait all year round for these kinds of waves. It’s challenging, really hard to stay in one place, because there’s a heavy, heavy, heavy rip,” he said. “But this is what surfers want — a hurricane that comes but doesn’t destroy my house? I’ll take that.”
The Outer Banks — essentially sand dunes sticking out of the ocean a few feet above sea level — are vulnerable to erosion. Storm surges can cut through them, washing tons of sand and debris onto roads and sometimes breaking up pavement and creating new inlets.
The dunes and beach took a beating the last two days, but Dare County Manager Bobby Outten said…
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