A family beach house collapsed into the ocean from the Outer Banks of North Carolina in the early hours of Tuesday, authorities said, becoming the sixth home to crash into the water as shoreline erosion continues in the area.
In a press release, Cape Hatteras National Seashore said that a cleanup was underway at the site, confirming that the home was unoccupied when the incident occurred in the community of Rodanthe, 100 miles south of Virginia Beach.
The house plunged into the Atlantic around 2:30am local time, officials said. During the cleanup, around one mile of beach area had to be closed to the public. The debris is expected to drive towards the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.
Online records show that the house was built in 1970. It features five bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms spread across 1,700 square feet. The homes owners are listed as Cynthia Turner and Heather Evans.
It was last sold in 2021 for $500,000. The seller was a vacation rental company. Between 2005 and its most recent undated assessment, the home’s value plummeted from around $675,000 to $185,000.
The five bedroom home seen here on Tuesday after crashing into the Atlantic Ocean in the early hours
The home pictured from the rear in an undated photo
The previous collapses in the area occurred between 2020 and 2023, with three occurring in 2022 alone.
The coastal erosion is driven by winds, waves, tides, storms and the rising seas, decimating the area of Rodanthe and Buxton in the Tar Heel State.
North Carolina’s coast is almost entirely made up of narrow, low-lying barrier islands. Hatteras Island is part of what’s known as the Outer Banks.
Hundreds of pricey vacation homes have been built there in places where experts say they probably should not have been. The islands are particularly vulnerable to storm surges and to being washed over from both sides.
Development only makes the problem worse because communities replenish shorelines that are eroding or have been depleted by storms.
As sea levels rise, barrier islands typically move toward the mainland over long periods of time. Holding them in place by artificial means only makes them more vulnerable.
‘Another one bit the dust… This situation will continue,’ Superintendent David Hallac of Cape Hatteras National Seashore old the Washington Post.
One neighbor told WAVY that she was first on the scene when the collapse occurred.
‘I’ve actually taken pictures and measured from the window of that house and measured to see how much the house was moving,’ Debbie Roberts said.
‘And every day I saw that it was moving, and I know it is going to go in before I leave, I just know it is … and sure enough it happened.’
The clean-up effort began on Tuesday with office workers even deployed by the Park Service
‘If we don’t do it, we’d be accepting the fact this debris would continue to spread for many miles,’ an official said of the clean up
Hallac added that in order to speed up the clean-up effort, a total of 49 staff were sent to the site of the collapse, including office workers.
‘If we don’t do it, we’d be accepting the fact this debris would continue to spread for many miles. You have to begin cleanup immediately, otherwise it becomes an almost unachievable cleanup in the future,’ he continued.
As recently as May 16, the CHNS was warning the public to avoid the beaches around where the house was located because of exposed wires, damaged septic systems and debris, caused by the erosion.
Park Service spokesman Mike Barber told the newspaper that additional beach closures could be forthcoming due to dangerous debris.
The Post’s report notes that in an effort to stem the tide, some homeowners have taken on the costly task of moving their home in from the shore. White despite the ordeal, is only a temporary measure.
Others have simply sold their homes to the Park Service who in turn tear them down and turn them into beaches.