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 Friday.

The storm was forecast to cause possible coastal flooding into the weekend along the East Coast but was also expected to weaken gradually. 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 destructiveness.

On North Carolina’s Outer Banks , waves breached dunes in the town of Kill Devil Hills on Thursday evening, and water and sand pooled on Highway 12.

Although damage assessments were still underway, the low-lying islands appeared to hav

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