A tropical storm warning has been issued for North Carolina as Hurricane Erin churns up the east coast of the U.S. as a Category 2 storm.

Erin's outer bands will start grazing the Outer Banks on Wednesday night, with increasing wind gusts of 40-60 mph.

Hurricane Erin began strengthening again Wednesday while creeping toward the mid-Atlantic coast and churning up menacing waves that have closed beaches from the Carolinas to New York City. Forecasters expect the storm to peak over the next 48 hours and say it could re-intensify into a major hurricane by Wednesday night.