Experts advise those caught in a rip current to remain calm, float, and swim parallel to the shore until they can escape the current.

Hurricane Erin may be spinning hundreds of miles offshore, but its impact is being felt hard along the East Coast.

Authorities predicted that the largest swells during high tide would cut off villages and homes on the Outer Banks and whip up life-threatening rip currents from Florida to New England.

Hurricane Erin's higher tides and big waves are battering much of the East Coast, with the huge storm prompting the expansion of tropical storm and coastal flooding advisories Wednesday.

The International Space Station captured Hurricane Erin as it traveled northwest through the Caribbean, with sustained wind speeds of 105 mph.