Another home collapsed into the Atlantic on Wednesday night.
It brings the total to seven beachfront houses lost in just two days on Hatteras Islands in the Outer Banks.
The home, a 2,188-square-foot property located at 46207 Tower Circle Road in Buxton, North Carolina, succumbed on Wednesday at 8 PM, approximately five hours following the high tide of the afternoon. This recent collapse was initially reported by the Island Free Press.
More homes nearby are at risk and are expected to topple into the sea on Thursday and Friday.
Just a day earlier, six additional beachside residences were swept into the sea as strong ocean swells from distant hurricanes battered the Outer Banks of North Carolina during high tide.
The houses, elevated on stilts in Buxton on Hatteras Island, fell in succession as waves measuring between six and twelve feet, stirred up by Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda, hit the shoreline.
According to local accounts, five of the homes collapsed within an hour shortly after 2 PM, with a sixth falling just before midnight. These properties had been declared unfit for habitation in 2023, and although once valued at approximately $400,000 each, they had become entirely devalued by the time of their collapse.
The destruction brings the total number of Hatteras Island homes lost to the sea to 19 since 2020.
The home collapsed in the Outer Banks on Wednesday night, bringing the total to seven homes falling into the sea in just two days
The destruction brings the total number of Hatteras Island homes lost to the sea to 19 since 2020 and more are expected to fall
Resident Heather Jennette said: ‘We’ve known this would happen.’
‘It’s awful,’ Buxton Civic Association’s Heather Jennette told the Daily Mail.
‘It’s very sad. What’s more sad is that North Carolina is the only state with laws restricting the ability to try and help strengthen our coast.
‘We have known this would happen without increased stabilization.
‘We were all hoping to make it through this fall and winter, as there is a plan to repair one of the three jetties and initiate another cycle of beach nourishment,’ shared a local resident.
The beach in Buxton remains closed to the public due to piles of hazardous debris, including wood, nails and glass along the shoreline.
Dare County announced that its debris removal contractor will evaluate the area once conditions improve.
The seven collapses bring the total number of oceanfront homes losses to eight within the past two weeks.
In total, there have been 19 oceanfront home collapses on Hatteras Island since 2020.
Nearby homes are also expected to completely crumble into the Atlantic, as the barrier island they sit on is eroding
Residents were advised to avoid the vicinity, as both the sea and shoreline were littered with debris, including two-by-fours, fragmented walls, and shattered glass, carried ashore by the relentless waves.
The homes are located in Buxton, a community on the string of islands that make up the Outer Banks in North Carolina, an area made famous by Outer Banks show on Netflix
The Cape Hatteras National Seashore says the unoccupied homes collapsed between 2pm and 2.45pm and there are no reported injuries at this time
The latest disaster brings the total of fallen Hatteras Island homes to 17 since 2020 and locals are worried there’s more to come
The unoccupied houses along the coast were propped on stilts, which began buckling at 2pm ET and they eventually toppled not long after
No injuries were reported, and no one was living in the homes, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore said in a post on social media.
Locals were warned to stay away from the area.
‘We’re going to need some help when it’s over,’ Jennette said.
The Outer Banks became famous as a result of the hit Netflix show named after it.
The area juts farther into the ocean than any other part of the Tar Heel State, making it especially vulnerable to the sea.
Experts say it is no surprise that these homes are on the edge of collapse.
While the homes were built about 50 to 60 years ago 200 feet from the sea, the beaches have been eroded by storms.
