Hurricane Erin is expected to impact the Outer Banks in North Carolina, sending massive waves crashing into the islands.

Meteorologists are closely tracking the projected path and forecast of Hurricane Erin, which is the first hurricane to develop over the Atlantic this year.

Hurricane Erin is expected to grow in size and strength as it moves north through the Atlantic this week. Forecasters expect it to pass well offshore of North Carolina on Wednesday and Thursday, but say it likely will cause coastal flooding and erosion, along with dangerous rip currents. National Hurricane Center

Hurricane Erin is forcing evacuations on North Carolina’s Outer Banks as it threatens to whip up wild waves and tropical force winds.

Category 2 Hurricane Erin moved northwest at 7 mph about 720 miles to the southeast of Cape Hatteras on Tuesday morning. Still forecast to be turning away from the shoreline of North Carolina on Thursday,

Forecasters are tracking three systems in the Atlantic basin, including one with a medium chance of becoming a tropical depression later this week.

Erin is a Category 4 hurricane again, the National Hurricane Center said in its 11 p.m. ET update Sunday, with sustained winds of 130 mph and tropical storm-force winds reaching out 230 miles. The storm was just under a thousand miles southeast of Cape Hatteras,