On Thursday, Hurricane Erin was several hundred miles off the coast of North Carolina and pushing storm surge and deadly rip currents toward the shore. Two other systems may form right behind.

Tropical storm warnings remain in effect for the North Carolina coast. The storm will move northeast as it heads out to sea and away from land.

Hurricane Erin has battered North Carolina’s Outer Banks with strong winds and waves that flooded part of the main highway and surged under beachfront homes.

Multiple warnings were in effect along the East Coast on Wednesday, as officials warned of a "life-threatening" situation.

As of 7 a.m. CDT Wednesday, the center of Category 2 Hurricane Erin was located about 400 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., or 560 miles west-southwest of Bermuda, and was tracking to the north-northwest at 13 mph. Erin’s sustained winds were 100 mph, making it a Category 2 storm.

The Atlantic hurricane season is in its peak period of activity, and a small area of low pressure is the latest disturbance to crowd the tropics. See the forecast.

Hurricane Erin moves offshore but still threatens East Coast with dangerous surf, rip currents, and tropical winds. Follow Newsweek's live blog.

That simple fact is why Tropical Storm Erin, which is churning in the eastern Atlantic, is a concern for meteorologists and people living along the coast though thousands of miles away from American shores. As of morning Monday, Erin was approximately 280 ...