00:00And staying on the East Coast, Hurricane Aaron is wreaking havoc to summer vacation plans
00:05as the Category 2 storm barrels north. You can see why. Here's the storm from space
00:11churning in the Atlantic hundreds of miles offshore. Now, Aaron is not on track to make
00:17landfall, but it is expected to cause rip currents for days, all the way from Florida
00:22up to New England. And mandatory evacuation orders are in place for parts of North Carolina.
00:27CBS News meteorologist Rob Marciano is following the developments from Rodanthe on the Outer Banks.
00:33Rob, good morning. So you're on the ground there. What's the situation right now?
00:39Well, Michael, the waves have been building for the past 24 hours. They're only going to continue
00:43to build here over the next 24. And just eating away at this shoreline. It's been a beautiful
00:47sunrise. I won't lie about that. But these waves are 5, 6, 10, even some 12-footers out there.
00:53We could see them to 20 feet before we're all done here. And obviously eating away at this beach
00:58over the past several years. And we got homes that are in precarious situations here. Their
01:03owners have evacuated. But these could be swallowed up by the ocean before too long.
01:08Yesterday, we spoke with the county manager about how they prepped for a hurricane. Here's
01:13what Bobby Outen had to say about that.
01:16The waves are going to be huge that come in. They're going to create a lot of overwash.
01:20They're going to close the roads on Hatteras. It may damage the roads. And so those things
01:24cause the problems. They cause the flooding. And so, yeah, it doesn't matter whether it hits
01:30us or doesn't. If you get that volume of water, it's a problem.
01:34So they've had the heavy equipment out trying to shore up some of these dunes, especially along
01:38Highway 12. Because if that gets cut off, that really cuts off the entire lower part of the outer
01:43bank. So they're prepping, Michael, as if this is going to make a direct hit. That's just the way
01:48they do it here. No strength to the hurricanes. But they're certainly worried about the water
01:51coming in.
01:52And, Rob, we've been hearing a lot about rip currents. Explain that and why folks should
01:56be cautious.
01:59Well, I tell you what, it's up and down the East Coast. It's not just here. I mean,
02:01it's all the way from Florida, all the way to southern New England. Many beaches in New
02:05Jersey and New York have been shut down for good reason. I mean, these waves come in.
02:08And, you know, every 100 yards or so, there'll be a channel of outgoing water that will rip
02:14you out to sea. And we've had dozens of rescues just down the way at Wrightsville Beach the
02:20past couple of days. So they've had no choice but to shut down some of these beaches. And
02:24sadly, we've had 30 fatalities already this year. So we average about 70 or so. I didn't
02:31realize that number was that high. But that's how dangerous they are. And they can take even
02:36the strongest swimmers out to sea and have some devastating effects. So please just stay out of
02:41the water until this storm is long gone, which will take several days, Michael.
02:45Some good advice. Rob Marciano, you and your crew stay safe out there.
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