VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A Virginia Beach nonprofit is heading to North Carolina’s Outer Banks to help clean up debris left behind after several homes collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean in Buxton.
Just a few weeks ago, four homes fell into the ocean along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, scattering debris across the shoreline and prompting cleanup efforts by state park rangers.
Coastal Recovery, a Virginia Beach-based nonprofit that has previously responded to disasters — including relief efforts following Hurricane Helene — plans to send a crew of about 20 volunteers to assist with the cleanup.
Todd Woolston with Coastal Recovery said the group originally planned to travel to Buxton on Feb. 7, when only one home had collapsed.
“What’s interesting is we were supposed to go Feb. 7. At that time only one house had collapsed and there was debris left behind,” Woolston said. “In the meantime, a winter storm came through a few weeks ago and four more houses collapsed. They said the debris field was five times larger, so they asked us to wait until the storm could pass and they could assess everything before we came down with a team to do the bigger cleanup.”
Coastal Recovery will partner with Cape Hatteras Baptist Church for the effort and Frisco Woods Campground have donated sites for the group to stay.
Volunteers are expected to begin work Saturday and continue through next weekend helping remove debris from the shoreline.
