The storm was about 636km east of Grand Turk Island packing maximum sustained winds of 225km/h, the NHC said late on Saturday.
The NHC forecast Erin was moving toward the west-northwest at nearly 22km/h with a turn more northward expected to occur on Monday into Tuesday.
"Erin is expected to produce life-threatening surf and rip currents along the beaches of the Bahamas, much of the east coast of the US and Atlantic Canada next week," the NHC said on X.
The NHC said the meteorological service of France has discontinued the tropical storm watch for St Martin and St Barthelemy, while the meteorological service of the Netherlands has discontinued the tropical storm watch for Sint Maarten.
The NHC had previously said it expected Erin to strengthen into next week.
The hurricane's centre was forecast to pass north of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico through Sunday and move to the east of the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas on Sunday night and Monday.
The storm is expected to dump heavy rainfall through Sunday across the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, the NHC said.
Swells generated by Erin will affect portions of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos Islands through the weekend, and the swells will spread to the Bahamas, Bermuda and the East Coast of the United States early in the coming week, it said.
The Bahamas, which provides some meteorological services for the Turks and Caicos Islands, issued a Tropical Storm Watch for the British islands to its southeast.
Erin has also raised concerns about wildfire risks if human-caused sparks ignite parched vegetation and strong dry winds fan the flames.
with AP
