A stronger and bigger Hurricane Erin pelted parts of the Caribbean and was forecast to create dangerous surf and rip currents along the U.S. East Coast this week.

It reintensified to a Category 4 storm with 130 mph (215 kph) maximum sustained winds early Monday and moved closer to the Southeast Bahamas, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Around 5 a.m. Monday, Erin was about 105 miles (170 kilometers) north-northeast of Grand Turk Island and about 915 miles (1,470 kilometers) south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The storm was moving northwest at 13 mph (20 kph).

The Bahamas government issued a Tropical Storm Watch for the central Bahamas, while a Tropical Storm Warning remained in effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeast Bahamas, the hurri

See Full Page