Hurricane Erin churned slowly toward the eastern U.S. on Tuesday, stirring up treacherous waves that already have led to dozens of water rescues and shut down beaches along the coast in the midst of summer's last hurrah.

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein warned "folks on the coast need to take care," in case they need to evacuate and declared a state of emergency Tuesday.

"The storm remains dangerous and is already impacting lots of people here in North Carolina," Stein told reporters. Folks on the coast need to take care.

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 into Friday.

"Dangerous conditions can be felt far from the eye, especially with the system as large as Erin," North Carolina Emergency Management Director Will Ray said. "Regardless of her track, moderate to locally significant impacts are expected along our coast and expected to peak today and into tomorrow."

Erin has become an unusually large and deceptively worrisome storm, with its tropical storm winds stretching 230 miles (370 kilometers) from its core. Forecasters expect it will grow larger in size as it moves through the Atlantic and curls north.

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