OUTER BANKS, N.C. — Another home collapsed into the ocean on North Carolina's Outer Banks early Sunday morning, marking the 28th such incident since 2020 as coastal erosion continues to threaten the barrier island community.
The latest house to fall came down off Tower Circle Road in Buxton during the winter storm. The home was unoccupied at the time of the collapse, according to local officials.
Video from the scene shows debris scattered along the shoreline after the structure gave way to powerful waves and high winds that reached 50 to 60 mph during the storm.
"We had significant overwash on all the hotspots on Highway 12 and in Buxton," Dare County Manager Bobby Outten said.
The collapse adds to a growing crisis on the Outer Banks. Sixteen of the collapses have been in Buxton alone.
While Rodanthe was originally the major concern for officials, Buxton has become the latest hotspot for home collapses. In September, six homes collapsed on the same day, with five falling within an hour of each other.
"I'm just shocked. I can't imagine this happens anywhere else - five collapses within an hour," one witness said at the time.
Outten said two more homes in the area are currently at risk of collapsing.
County leaders have been working to address the crisis through a beach nourishment project that is now scheduled to begin in late spring to early summer of this year. The project was moved up from its original timeline due to the accelerating erosion.
"The only tool in the toolbox to prevent ocean overwash is beach nourishment. The law in North Carolina won't allow you to do anything else. We're working hard to do a nourishment project to try and protect some of that," Outten said.
However, officials acknowledge that homes remain vulnerable in the short term, particularly during severe weather events.
"Once again, if we get those winds coming out of the northeast, then we're going to have problems there again," Outten said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
