Dare County, a small coastal county nearly surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean in North Carolina, declared a state of emergency Sunday as forecasters announced that Category 3 storm Hurricane Erin is expected to continue intensifying.
The county—which includes Roanoke Island, a peninsula jutting off the mainland of the state, and a long, thin coastal strip of islands in the Atlantic Ocean connected by roads—isn’t likely to be directly hit by the storm but could still be impacted by it, officials said.
