Ocracoke residents will be allowed to return home after North Carolina announced a limited ferry schedule. And Friday morning’s high tide cycle should be the worst of Erin’s flooding.

Okracoke residents will be allowed to return home after North Carolina announced a limited ferry schedule. And Friday morning’s high tide cycle should be the worst of Erin’s flooding.

Hurricane Erin is now several hundred miles off the North Carolina coast early Friday. While the worst of the storm is behind us, high waves may cause some overwash during high tides on Friday. For current conditions and loops of radar near the coast,

Hurricane Erin is marching north, lashing North Carolina's Outer Banks with rough waves and coastal flooding, and bringing a threat of dangerous waves and potentially deadly rip currents to the East Coast. Due to the high surf and rip current risk, New York City is extending its swimming ban.

The NCDOT shut down all lanes of the highway on Ocracoke Island between the Northern Ferry Terminal and the National Park Service Pony Pens last night until further notice. Lanes will also stay closed on Hatteras Island from the Marc Basnight Bridge to Hatteras Village.

Holly Andrzejewski hadn’t yet welcomed her and her family’s first guests to the Atlantic Inn on Hatteras Island when she had to start rescheduling them, as Hurricane Erin neared North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Tuesday and threatened to whip up wild waves and tropical force winds.