BUXTON, N.C. — The Buxton oceanfront has been quiet for the last six weeks after four more homes were taken by the ocean during a winter storm that hit the coast. But as we know, even going back to the fall, the debris field can stretch dozens of miles to the north and south, meaning there's still plenty of debris on the seashore. This week, a Virginia Beach-based nonprofit is lending a helping hand in the cleanup.
"We just knew we had to come down and help," said Todd Woolston, director of Coastal Recovery.
Woolston and fellow Coastal Recovery volunteers offered their help to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore earlier this year, but before that could happen, a winter storm came in and took four more houses in late January and early February.
"Originally it was February 7th, that house fell. Then that winter storm came through, four more houses fell, so this debris field behind us has grown about five times the size," said Woolston.
Since Saturday, crews have been combing the beach on foot and with equipment to help clear as much debris as possible and add it to the massive pile of house debris sitting in the parking lot of the lifeguarded beach in Buxton, which has been there since the fall.
"250 man hours this week we've done. This big 16-foot trailer we've loaded that 16 times, the equipment trailer we've loaded several times and I think the equivalent of another 15 or 16 pickup truck loads of debris we've just brought to these piles. So a lot of work this week," said Woolston.
Hope in Chaos — that's the group's mission, and it is providing that service to a community that has gone through so much.
"We just want to come and be encouragement, in fact our tag line is that we're supposed to be hope in chaos. So it's been wonderful to see people and have them come over and thank us and pray with us and we pray with them throughout the week," said Woolston.
The group knows the area probably hasn't seen its last house collapse this year, but says it will always be around to answer the call to help.
"We're looking with the rangers and there are some others that look like they are in danger of collapsing. So we'll always be available, we'll be ready to come back when that need is here," said Woolston.
Coastal Recovery was formed just before Hurricane Helene struck western North Carolina as a humanitarian effort to respond to disasters and help people. For more information about the volunteer group, visit their website here.
