Hurricane Erin is marching north and is set to bring life-threatening rip currents, destructive waves, coastal flooding and possibly beach erosion to much of the East Coast. The conditions will last through Thursday before improving later on Friday and into Saturday.

Officials have ordered evacuations of Hatteras and Ocracoke islands even without a hurricane warning because that tiny ribbon of highway called N.C. 12 will likely be torn up and washed out in several places,

There's a popular T-shirt on Hatteras Island on the North Carolina Outer Banks that says: “One road on. One road off (sometimes)” — poking fun at the constant battle between Mother Nature and a thin ribbon of pavement connecting the narrow barrier island to the rest of the world.