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.

Outer bands from Hurricane Erin are expected to bring worsening conditions to the coast of North Carolina by this evening, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center. The Category 2 storm is continuing to move north-northwest and the center was located about 444 miles east of Daytona Beach at 8 a.m.

Hurricane Erin, which formed on August 11 and quickly intensified, is expected to largely impact the Outer Banks region of North Carolina and portions of coastal Virginia — though forecasters warn the storm’s impacts will also be felt in the northeast.

Hurricane Erin weakened to a Category 3 hurricane during the early hours of Aug. 19 as it moves closer to the East Coast, according to the National Hurricane Center. As of 5 a.m. Aug. 19, Erin was located 675 miles southwest of Bermuda and 750 miles from Cape Hatteras,