E-Paper
Beachfront home collapses into Atlantic Ocean on North Carolina’s Outer Banks in horrifying video: Watch
The house toppled just hours after the National Park Service warned that Hurricane Ernesto was leading to dangerous ocean conditions on the Outer Banks.
A horrifying video shows a beachfront home falling into the Atlantic Ocean on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. According to the National Park Service, this is the seventh such incident in four years. The house toppled just hours after the park warned that Hurricane Ernesto was leading to dangerous ocean conditions on the Outer Banks.
The house at 23214 Corbina Drive in Rodanthe collapsed on Friday, August 16. It then started to break apart in the surf. At the time of the incident, the house was unoccupied, and no injuries were reported.
“Cape Hatteras National Seashore and the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge strongly urges all visitors to avoid the beaches and stay out of the water around all areas of the beaches and surf in Rodanthe,” officials said, according to Raleigh News & Observer.
“Many other homes appear to have sustained damages in the Rodanthe area. Dangerous debris may be present on the beach and in the water for more than a dozen miles,” they added.
The video shows the pilings under the two-story home snapping all at once. The structure is seen floating as waves slam against the walls. Officials confirmed that the public has now been denied access to areas “from the northern boundary of Rodanthe up to the northern end of the Jug Handle Bridge.”
Hazardous debris from the home is being sent to the north by the currents. However, communities to the south have been warned that this could change with the shifts in the wind.
As of Friday, the property owner had made no arrangements to remove the debris. This reportedly prompted the National Park Service to consider carrying out a removal effort.
‘I never understood why people put their houses right on the beach’
Many shocked X users commented on the above video, with one of them saying, “I live on an island and this is the risk I take too... Happy to hear no one was injured.” “The Outer Banks used to be forest areas that helped protect the inland areas. This is what happens when you remove the protective barriers,” one user wrote, while another said, “They are called "barrier islands" for a reason. The fact that we build on them is insane. Barrier islands are supposed to ebb and flow and change as storms come by.”
“I'm more than a little familiar with the Outer Banks area. The truth is the shoreline is encroaching in some areas and retreating in others. Sometimes entire new islands appear and then disappear. Shell Island is one of those. Not sure of the wisdom of building there,” one user wrote, while another said, “I used to go to that area all the time when I was in the Marine Corps. I never understood why people put their houses right on the beach.” One wrote, “Oh my that’s terrible! I guess that makes up my mind never to buy on the ocean!”
