Hurricane Erin has re-intensified into a category 4 major hurricane Sunday evening. Life threating surf and rip currents are likely across the East coast of the United States this week, as Hurricane Erin continues grow.

Life-threatening surf and rip currents are likely across the East Coast of the United States this week, as Hurricane Erin continues to grow.

Over the weekend, northern portions of the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico are expected to receive tropical rain ranging from 2 to 4 inches, with isolated totals up to 6 inches. Flash flooding, landslides and mudslides will be the main concerns over the next several days.

The federal government has sent more than 200 workers from FEMA and other agencies to Puerto Rico as a precautionary measure.

Hurricane Erin intensified into a Category 4 storm, lashing the Caribbean with powerful winds and triggering evacuations in North Carolina’s Outer Banks as dangerous surf and rip currents threaten the US East Coast this week.

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.

Powerful Hurricane Erin has undergone a period of astonishingly rapid intensification — a phenomenon that has become far more common in recent years as the planet warms. It was a rare Category 5 for a time Saturday before becoming a Category 4,

The NHC said it currently expected Erin to become a Category 4 storm later Saturday but to eventually swerve away from the continental United States.

Spaghetti models predict Erin will skirt the U.S. East Coast by hundreds of miles as it moves north through next week.

Hurricane Erin is forecast to remain well offshore but still bring hazardous currents and possible erosion like previous offshore hurricanes before it.