Hurricane Erin has weakened to a Category 1 storm after lashing North Carolina's Outer Banks with rough waves and coastal flooding, and bringing a threat of dangerous waves and potentially deadly rip currents to the East Coast.

Hurricane Erin battered North Carolina's Outer Banks with strong winds and waves that flooded part of the main highway and surged under beachfront homes before slowly moving away.

The hurricane passed by the Cape Fear region hundreds of miles offshore, delivering heavy surf to area beaches but little else.