Hurricane Erin, a Category 2 storm packing sustained winds near 100 mph, is forecast to remain several hundred miles off the U.S. East Coast yet is already generating life-threatening surf, rip currents and coastal flooding from the Carolinas to New England. North Carolina Governor Josh Stein has declared a state of emergency, and officials ordered mandatory evacuations for Hatteras and Ocracoke islands as forecasters warn of 15- to 25-foot waves and storm surge of up to four feet that could render Highway 12 impassable for days. Emergency crews reported roughly 60 water rescues at Wrightsville Beach on Monday and more than a dozen on Tuesday, while Surf City’s fire-rescue unit pulled 15 swimmers from rip currents. A tropical-storm warning stretches from central North Carolina to the Virginia border, with a watch posted northward to Chincoteague, Virginia, and for Bermuda. Erin’s expansive wind field extends more than 260 miles from its center and is expected to grow as the storm makes its closest pass on Thursday. Farther north, Massachusetts faces a high-surf advisory through Saturday. Forecasters expect gusts up to 50 mph on Cape Cod and Nantucket, where all south-shore beaches are closed to swimming. Wave heights could reach about 20 feet south of Nantucket early Friday, raising the risk of beach erosion and minor coastal flooding during high tide. Erin intensified to Category 5 strength over the weekend before weakening, underscoring an unusually active Atlantic season that forecasters say could still produce additional hurricanes. The National Hurricane Center is tracking two more disturbances, with the next named storm to be dubbed Fernand.