Hurricane Erin on Monday bulked back up, but then dropped back down, although still a major Category 3 storm as it moved near the Bahamas with an increasing wind field that prompted new tropical

After a weekend of staggering strengthening, Hurricane Erin remained a major hurricane Monday on its path skirting away from the United States. And following behind in the Atlantic is another system the National Hurricane Center has given a medium chance of further development.

Island communities off the coast of North Carolina are bracing for flooding ahead of the year’s first Atlantic hurricane, Hurricane Erin. Although forecasters are confident that the storm won’t make direct landfall in the United States,

Hurricane Erin has strengthened to a Category 4 storm as it threatens to bring life-threatening surf and rip currents to the eastern coast of the United States. The rains caused by the storm are already beginning to hit the south-eastern Bahamas, and the Turk and Caicos Islands, where a tropical storm warning is in effect.

Parts of North Carolina's Outer Banks are under mandatory evacuation orders, as the National Hurricane Center warns that Hurricane Erin could bring tall waves topping 15 to 20 feet.

As of 7 a.m. CDT Monday, the center of Category 4 Hurricane Erin was located about 115 miles north-northeast of Grand Turk Island, or 890 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and was tracking to the northwest at 13 mph.

Rip currents are the third leading cause of deaths from hurricanes, and they can happen on a sunny day hundreds of miles from the storm.