Evacuations have been ordered as Hurricane Erin's 140mph winds batter the US east coast - as the dangerous storm gets closer.

The storm intensified to a Category 4 on Monday evening while pelting the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the southeast Bahamas.

Government officials in the Turks and Caicos Islands said all services were suspended on three of its islands and ordered residents there to stay home. Some ports also closed.

Although the hurricane wasn't expected to make landfall in the US, residents on North Carolina's Outer Banks were evacuated amid fears of costal flooding.

Meanwhile, evacuations that began Monday on Hatteras Island and Ocracoke came at the height of tourist season on the thin stretch of low-lying barrier islands that jut into the Atlantic Ocean and are increasing

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