BUXTON, N.C. — A lone air conditioning unit held up by a handful of wooden pilings is all that's left of a big blue house on the Buxton oceanfront. Late Tuesday night it was taken by the ocean and became the 20th house since August to collapse on the oceanfront there. It was also the second property that Dare County was in the process of purchasing and removing to prepare for the upcoming beach nourishment project.
"It's sad to see it go. We know it's coming," said Jeff Dawson, a member of the Buxton Civic Association whose family roots go back hundreds of years in the community.
A bittersweet moment for the community that knew it would have to be removed before the upcoming beach nourishment project later this month, but that doesn't make it any easier seeing it fall down and spread debris down the oceanfront.
"It's hard to celebrate anything right now. We do got a lot of great things coming but 20 people have lost their livelihoods, how many residents, how many visitors is that a week?" said Brian Harris, a member of the Buxton Civic Association.
Neighbors snapped into action early Wednesday morning from the southernmost jetty down to Cape Point. That's where News 3 found North Carolina Beach Buggy Association Vice President Dan Rothermel.
"From the jetty here all the way south to the tip to the point where the two currents come together, there was a considerable amount of debris, debris everywhere," said Rothermel.
But by midday Wednesday, neighbors had spent hours in that area alongside Cape Hatteras National Seashore staff picking up and transporting the majority of the debris to a pile near the old lighthouse site. Rothermel said no matter what the situation is, Hatteras Island neighbors step up.
"When you have a bunch of like-minded people that love the island, it's easy to get them motivated and to do stuff for the island. Everybody that's here loves the island, and it's neat to be able to be in the group of leaders that are kind of trying to get everybody together, and the response is absolutely amazing," said Rothermel.
The Buxton community is looking forward to the upcoming beach nourishment and jetty repair projects that should start sometime this month. But until then, there's still a feeling that any time the ocean conditions are strong, this could still happen again.
"Every time the wind picks up, we all have to hold our breath. There's nothing you can do about it until they repair the jetty or put some stabilization in, it's just going to keep exponentially getting worse," said Dawson.
News 3 spoke to Dare County Manager Bobby Outten about what happened with the process of purchasing and removing the house from the homeowner.
"We didn't get the deal done, he waited too long," said Outten.
But Outten said this now clears the way for the upcoming beach nourishment project in Buxton.
"It's fallen, the debris will be cleaned up, and we'll be able to do our beach nourishment project. From our perspective, we're able to move forward with our beach nourishment project, so it really doesn't have any impact on our schedule or our process going forward," said Outten.
The beach nourishment is expected to start in Buxton in mid to late June. Outten also shared an update on the bids for the jetty repair project in Buxton.
"We will open the bids, I think, on the eighth, the board meets on the ninth. If the board approves the bid, then we'll give the contractor the award on the 10th, and then they can start as quickly as they can get," said Outten.
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