Hurricane Erin has triggered a state of emergency in North Carolina, where residents and visitors along the Outer Banks are under evacuation orders.

Hurricane Erin has begun to track into the open ocean and away from the North Carolina, but storm surge warnings remain in place for parts of the state and the storms effects are still expected to be felt along the East Coast.

Hurricane Erin, churning north in the Atlantic hundreds of miles offshore, is expected to trigger a dangerous storm surge and tropical storm conditions on Wednesday along North Carolina’s Outer Banks and other stretches of the U.