RODANTHE, N.C. (AP) — Strong winds and waves battered Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard and dangerous rip currents threatened from the Carolinas to New England as Hurricane Erin made its way farther out to sea.

The storm was forecast to cause possible coastal flooding into the weekend along the East Coast but was also expected to lose strength gradually. The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported early Friday that Erin had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph (150 kph), and was located about 490 miles (785 kilometers) south-southwest of Halifax, Novia Scotia.

Despite being twice the size of an average hurricane, Erin so far has managed to thread the needle through the Atlantic between the East Coast and several island nations, limiting its destruc

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