Much of North Carolina’s Outer Banks region is under a tropical storm watch with Hurricane Erin expected to skirt the area Wednesday through Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane Erin was a Category 4 storm again Monday morning and is expected to grow even larger and stronger, Life-threatening surf and rip currents are likely across the Atlantic coast from Florida to Canada.

Hurricane Erin won’t make landfall on the Outer Banks but is projected to produce dangerous rip currents along the beaches.

Erin is the first hurricane to develop over the Atlantic this year, and meteorologists are closely tracking its path and forecast.

Forecasters expect Hurricane Erin, one of the fastest rapidly intensifying storms in history, to bring flooding and dangerous currents as the Category 4 hurricane travels to the U.S. East Coast this week.