Evacuations were ordered on barrier islands along the Carolina coast such as Hatteras as authorities warned the storm could churn up dangerous rip currents and swamp roads with 15 foot waves.

Hurricane Erin intensified rapidly over the past week and is now hitting the coast of Virginia and North Carolina.

North Carolina is under a state of emergency and evacuations have been ordered in parts of the Outer Banks, which will get rocked with storm surge and destructive waves of 20 feet or more later today...