H urricane Erin is expected to bring life-threatening surf and rip currents to the Eastern U.S. coast this week, according to the National Hurricane Center. Erin is a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph.

After rapidly intensifying into a Category 5 storm on Saturday, Hurricane Erin has since been downgraded to a Category 4 system with sustained winds of 130 mph. However, it is expected to intensify and grow in size over the next few days.

Rip currents are the third leading cause of deaths from hurricanes, and they can happen on a sunny day hundreds of miles from the storm.

Hurricane Erin could 'at least double or triple in size' next week and the track has shifted south, but remains likely to turn away from the East Coast.

Tropical Storm #Erin is now less than 1000 miles from the Virgin Islands- looks like it becomes a hurricane by late Friday then could rapidly intensify passing just north of Puerto Rico. High surf & rip currents this weekend in the Leeward Islands. THEN the Bermuda high steering… pic.twitter.com/5SUhfTJ7X4

For now, most reliable computer models that meteorologists use show Erin curving away from the United States, spinning off the East Coast later in August.

The central United States could see a break from the dry weather in the coming week or so, according to the six- to 10-day precipitation outlook from the NWS Climate Prediction Center.

Indeed, the East Coast is made up of a large number of states, and several of them require more wealth than New York to be among the top 20%. Because the East Coast is so diverse with so many ...

Erin has become the first hurricane of the Atlantic season with strong waves and rip currents possible along the East Coast of the United States as early as next week.