Powerful Hurricane Erin to bring high seas, big waves, rip currents and rough surf as it moves between the United States and Bermuda.

Officials in Dare and Hyde counties have issued mandatory evacuation orders for Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands ahead of Hurricane Erin, which strengthened overnight into a Category 4 storm. While Erin

Hurricane Erin weakened to a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph as its outer bands pounded the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico with gusty winds and heavy rains early Sunday.

Scientists link the rapid intensification of hurricanes in the Atlantic to climate change, with global warming causing more intense storms.

Erin is expected to produce life-threatening surf and rip currents to the Atlantic coast from Florida to Canada. Erin became the Atlantic season's first hurricane as expected late Aug. 15, then exploded into a Category 5 storm Aug.