(Reuters) — Hurricane Erin, churning north in the Atlantic hundreds of miles offshore, is expected to trigger a dangerous storm surge and tropical storm conditions on Wednesday along North Carolina’s Outer Banks and other stretches of the U.S. East Coast.

The National Hurricane Center warned that roads in the low-lying barrier islands may become impassable, with waves as high as 20 feet crashing ashore. The heavy surf is likely to result in significant beach erosion, it said in its 8 a.m. EDT update.

North Carolina Governor Josh Stein declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, freeing up state money and manpower to help during the storm and its aftermath.

Tropical storm and storm-surge warnings are in place for other parts of the North Carolina coastline.

Earlier in the week, the coastal counties of Dare and Hyde — which encompass most of the Outer Banks — ordered residents and tourists to evacuate the vulnerable Ocracoke and Hatteras islands, whose populations swell during the summer months.

Local media reported that ferries took more than 2,220 people off Ocracoke, with the final sailing scheduled for 11 a.m. on Wednesday. Ferries to Hatteras will keep operating as long as conditions allow, ABC News affiliate WCTI reported.

But Chris Styron, manager of the Pony Island Inn on Ocracoke, is ignoring the evacuation orders and staying to watch over the 50-room hotel.

“We’re used to storms like this,” Styron said. “I’m born and raised here. We’re not really worried — it’s so far offshore.”

End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships

The eye of Erin, rated as a Category 2 storm with sustained winds of 100 mph (155 km/h), was expected to move midway between the U.S. East Coast and Bermuda on Wednesday and Thursday as it traveled northward, the NHC said. That trajectory will keep the worst of its winds offshore.

Tropical-storm-force winds extend up to 265 miles (426 km) from the storm’s center, with hurricane-force winds extending for 90 miles.

Even so, the NHC warned beachgoers along most of the East Coast to stay out of the water because of “life-threatening surf and rip currents.”

Along the New Jersey shore, swimming and other water activities were prohibited on beaches from Cape May north to Sandy Hook, with high surf and rip current warnings in effect into Friday, the NWS said. Coastal flooding is expected to peak during high tide on Thursday.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams ordered all city public beaches — including Coney Island and Brighton Beach — to close on Wednesday and Thursday.

Fortunately, temperatures in New York were expected to be seasonably cool on Wednesday and Thursday, with highs only reaching 70°F, well below the average of 82°F.

Erin, the fifth named storm of the 2025 Atlantic season and the first to attain hurricane status, had strengthened to a Category 5 storm. The last Atlantic storm to reach that intensity was Hurricane Milton in October 2024.

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Frank McGurty and Mark Porter)

Washington state violated federal safety rules when it granted a commercial driver’s licence to an illegal immigrant now accused of vehicular homicide in a deadly Florida car crash, and New Mexico State Police did not administer a required English Language Proficiency test during a traffic stop involving the same individual, a preliminary review from the Department of Transportation found.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Tuesday that he had launched an investigation into an August 12 crash on the Florida Turnpike in St. Lucie County, where a semi-truck driver allegedly made an illegal U-turn that caused a fatal collision with a minivan, resulting in the deaths of three individuals. Authorities have identified the driver of the truck as 28-year-old Harjinder Singh, an illegal immigrant from India who crossed into the country in 2018. 

End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships

A 37-year-old woman, a 54-year-old man, and a 30-year-old man died in the crash. Singh has been charged with three counts of vehicular homicide. Duffy said the investigation by the feds would support Florida’s criminal investigation. 

“If states had followed the rules, this driver would never have been behind the wheel and three precious lives would still be with us,” Duffy said. “This crash was a preventable tragedy directly caused by reckless decisions and compounded by despicable failures.”

Duffy said that the probe from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration would focus on Singh and White Hawk Carriers, the California-based company that owned the truck involved in the crash, which has a history of safety violations. 

Initial findings from the Department of Transportation indicate that Washington issued Singh a regular full-term Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) on July 15, 2023, even though illegal immigrants and asylum seekers are not eligible for such licenses. 

California also issued Singh a limited-term/non-domiciled CDL on July 23, 2024. Duffy said that the issuance of this license was still under investigation to determine if it was done in accordance with federal law. The Trump administration and California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom have clashed in recent days over responsibility for the fatal crash. 

The investigation also found that Singh was pulled over by New Mexico State Police on July 3, and given a roadside inspection and speeding ticket. Investigators found that law enforcement did not administer an English Language Proficiency test despite being required to under Trump administration guidelines implemented on June 25. 

When the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration interviewed Singh, officials found that he was not proficient in English and did not understand basic road signs. He could only provide correct responses on two out of twelve verbal questions and only identified one out of four highway traffic signs, investigators found. 

“Non-enforcement and radical immigration policies have turned the trucking industry into a lawless frontier, resulting in unqualified foreign drivers improperly acquiring licenses to operate 40-ton vehicles,” Duffy added. “We will use every tool at our disposal to hold these states and bad actors accountable. President Trump and I will restore safety to our roads. The families of the deceased deserve justice.”