Hurricane Erin triggers large waves, rip currents across East Coast

ASR Review

Hurricane Erin is bringing dangerous surf and rip currents to the East Coast as the storm continues to move up the Atlantic Ocean, hundreds of miles offshore. CBS News meteorologist Rob Marciano reports more from North Carolina.

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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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