5 homes collapse into the Outer Banks surf as Atlantic hurricanes swirl far offshore

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Six unoccupied houses along North Carolina’s Outer Banks have collapsed into the ocean as Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda rumble in the Atlantic, the latest private beachfront structures to fall as sea levels rise due to global warming.

Five of the homes, once propped on high stilts, collapsed Tuesday afternoon in Buxton, a community on the string of islands that make up the Outer Banks, said Mike Barber, a spokesperson for the National Park Service. A sixth in Buxton collapsed overnight, the park service said on its website.

No injuries had been reported Tuesday, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore said in a post on social media.

In videos shown by the local station 13News Now, the homes Tuesday teetered on stilts, battered by the waves before plunging into the surf, clogging the seashore with debris, two-by-fours, cushions and an entire home as wave after wave rolled in.

The post said that more collapses are possible given the ocean conditions, and urged visitors to avoid an area stretching for miles south of the collapses, to stay clear of the debris.

Ocean overwash on Tuesday also prompted the state Transportation Department to close a portion of North Carolina Highway 12 on Ocracoke Island. The ferry connecting Ocracoke and Hatteras islands also was suspended Tuesday, the department said.

North Carolina’s coast is made up almost entirely of narrow, low-lying barrier islands that have been eroding for years as rising seas swallow the land. Eighteen privately owned houses have now collapsed on Seashore beaches since 2020, the park service said.

The first 11 were north of Buxton in Rodanthe, but a Buxton home fell into the surf two weeks ago.

The threat often increases when storms affect the region, as is the case with the two latest hurricanes, even as they moved further out in the Atlantic. The National Weather Service issued coastal flood advisories and warnings for parts of eastern North Carolina, and dangerous surf conditions were expected through the rest of the week.

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The story corrects that the first 11 privately owned homes that collapsed on the Outer Banks since 2020 were in Rodanthe, not 15.