Hurricane Erin is moving away from the U.S. coast. Surf and seas remain a problem for our North Carolina beaches as summer vacations continue.

As Hurricane Erin churned off the North Carolina coast this week, its powerful waves destroyed most of the remaining sea turtle nests on Emerald Isle, dealing a blow to what had been shaping up as a successful nesting season.

While hundreds of residents and tourists evacuated North Carolina’s Outerbanks on Tuesday, others got caught in some of the earliest flooding from Hurricane Erin. The combination of the storm and high tide sent waves surging into homes, hotels and Highway 12 - the only way in and out of those islands.

Hurricane Erin was a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph as it made its closest approach to the U.S.