Hurricane Erin is forcing evacuations on North Carolina’s Outer Banks as it threatens to whip up wild waves and tropical force winds.

There's a popular T-shirt on Hatteras Island on the North Carolina Outer Banks that says: “One road on. One road off (sometimes)” — poking fun at the constant battle between Mother Nature and a thin ribbon of pavement connecting the narrow barrier island to the rest of the world.

Officials have ordered evacuations of Hatteras and Ocracoke islands even without a hurricane warning because that tiny ribbon of highway called N.C. 12 will likely be torn up and washed out in several places,