Five Homes Collapse into Outer Banks Surf Amidst Nearby Atlantic Hurricanes

(AP) – Five unoccupied houses along North Carolina’s Outer Banks collapsed into the ocean Tuesday as Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda rumbled in the Atlantic, the latest private beachfront structures to fall as sea levels rise due to global warming.

The homes, once propped on high stilts, collapsed in the afternoon in Buxton, a community on the string of islands that make up the Outer Banks, said Mike Barber, a spokesperson for the National Park Service.

No injuries were reported, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore said in a post on social media.

In videos shown by the local station 13News Now, the homes teetered on stilts, battered by the waves before plunging into the surf, clogging the seashore with debris, two-by-fours, cushions and an entire home as wave after wave rolled in.

The post said that more collapses are possible given the ocean conditions, and urged visitors to avoid an area stretching for miles south of the collapses, to stay clear of the debris.

Ocean overwash on Tuesday also prompted the state Transportation Department to close a portion of North Carolina Highway 12 on Ocracoke Island. The ferry connecting Ocracoke and Hatteras islands also was suspended Tuesday, the department said.

North Carolina’s coast is made up almost entirely of narrow, low-lying barrier islands that have been eroding for years as rising seas swallow the land. Seventeen privately owned houses have collapsed on Seashore beaches since 2020, the park service said.

The first 15 were north of Buxton in Rodanthe, but a Buxton home fell into the surf two weeks ago.

The threat often increases when storms affect the region, as is the case with the two latest hurricanes, even as they moved further out in the Atlantic. The National Weather Service issued coastal flood advisories and warnings for parts of eastern North Carolina, and dangerous surf conditions were expected through the rest of the week.