Hurricane Erin will remain far out to sea, but the powerful storm will still spark high surf and dangerous rip currents at local beaches this week.

Hurricane Erin pelted parts of the Caribbean and was forecast to create dangerous surf and rip currents along the U.S. East Coast this week.

Erin’s outer bands pelted parts of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands with heavy rains and tropical-storm winds during the day Sunday.

Hurricane Erin chugged slowly toward the eastern U.S. coast Tuesday, stirring up treacherous waves that already have forced dozens of beach rescues days before the biggest storm surges are expected.

Hurricane Erin is forecast to stay hundreds of miles offshore but is still sending waves 20 feet (6 meters) or greater crashing over vulnerable sand dunes on the islands.

“When assessing how people in the US lost their lives from the last 10 years due to tropical storms and hurricanes about 12% of them were due to rip currents,” according to Cassandra Mora, meteorolog...

Nevertheless, it said, heavy rain in some areas could trigger flash flooding, landslides and mudslides.

Evacuations were ordered on islands along North Carolina’s Outer Banks even though the storm is unlikely to make direct landfall.