From deadly rip currents to severe beach erosion, Hurricane Lee's coastal impacts are already reaching the Outer Banks.
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00:00 I've been coming to this beach my whole life, so it doesn't. I'm used to it. This has been
00:07 my vacation spot since I was a kid.
00:09 Emily Renfro has grown up at the beach, but as Hurricane Lee gets closer to the Outer
00:14 Banks, enjoying it gets more dangerous.
00:17 Yesterday was pretty bad, but it is early, so I did feel a little bit of it. I can imagine
00:22 it getting pretty worse.
00:23 Beach conditions along the Outer Banks ramped up Tuesday with swells running from four to
00:29 eight feet, and expected to get even worse Wednesday and Thursday.
00:34 Just in the last ten days, four people have died in the Outer Banks due to dangerous ocean
00:39 conditions. Officials are warning locals and vacationers the ocean is just too dangerous.
00:46 We might not be able to get on the beach, so that's a problem that we face here too.
00:49 If there's no beach for us to drive on, we have limited accesses that we can get to to
00:54 even access the beach. So if those accesses are compromised, then we're going to have
00:58 a hard time getting to people if they have an emergency on the beach.
01:04 Beach erosion is also a concern. Some of the most vulnerable beaches in the country are
01:09 in Rodanthe, North Carolina.
01:11 The house behind me is condemned. It's considered one of the most vulnerable that could head
01:16 into the ocean over the next couple of days. But there's about a dozen here that line the
01:20 shores that are at very high risk.
01:22 For seasoned surfers, Hurricane Lee's indirect impacts are proving too tempting to ignore.
01:29 The rips honestly, they help you get out quicker, you know, and you just, I mean, it's basic
01:33 ocean knowledge that's, you know, that's not what we're really worried about. We're more
01:37 worried about the wind coming up and ruining our surf session than the rip tides.
01:41 For AccuWeather, I'm Leslie Hudson reporting.
01:43 [Waves crashing]