Hurricane Erin chugged slowly toward the eastern U.S. coast Tuesday, stirring up treacherous waves that already have forced dozens of beach rescues days before the biggest storm surges are expected.

While forecasters remain confident the center of the monster storm will remain far offshore, the outer edges are likely to bring damaging tropical-force winds, large swells and life-threatening rip currents.

Warnings about rip currents have been posted from Florida to the New England coast, but the biggest threat is along the barrier islands of North Carolina’s Outer Banks where evacuations have been ordered.

Erin has become an unusually large and deceptively worrisome storm while moving through the Caribbean, with its tropical storm winds stretching 200 miles (320 kilometers) from its core.

The Outer Banks’ thin stretch of low-lying barrier islands that jut into the Atlantic Ocean are increasingly vulnerable to storm surges.

There are concerns that several days of heavy surf, high winds and waves could wash out parts of the main highway, leaving some routes impassible for days.

AP video by Allen G. Breed