Beach Houses on the Outer Banks Are Being Swallowed by the Sea The New York Times

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• Two North Carolina beach houses collapse into Atlantic Ocean as seen in video
• Another Outer Banks House Collapses Into Ocean as Rising Seas Erode NC Beach Town
• Survivors are found in homes wrecked by Japan quake that killed 94; scores still missing
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Barber said the Park Service would also likely organize a volunteer beach cleanup event soon. Although Dare County spent around $71 million in 2022 on beach nourishment projects in towns like Southern Shores and Kitty Hawk, there are no such projects planned for Rodanthe at the moment. Officials have warned visitors to be careful when participating in recreational activities nearby.

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Both homes were unoccupied, according to the National Park Service (NPS) at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Hundreds of pricey vacation homes have been built there in places where experts say they probably should not have been. In North Carolina's Outer Banks region, coastal flooding warnings and high surf advisories remain in effect through Thursday, in addition to beach hazards through Wednesday evening, according to the National Weather Service. The severe weather churning though the area appeared to eat the sand from under the home, toppling it.

Two North Carolina beach houses collapse into Atlantic Ocean as seen in video

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 Outer Banks House Collapses Into Ocean as Rising Seas Erode NC Beach Town

At first the home remained intact as it was pushed around in the surf, but it eventually broke apart, sending pieces of debris into the ocean. The homes are close to the North Carolina Highway 12 roundabout that leads to the Jug Handle Bridge, and officials have asked the public to use caution while in that area due to the debris from the home that collapsed. — Four oceanfront homes in Rodanthe, North Carolina were condemned Monday due to impacts from high surf and erosion, Dare County Planning Director Noah Gillam told 13News Now. And in May, a video circulating on Twitter captured the dramatic moment when a Rodanthe house on stilts fell into the sea and was swept away after being pummeled by powerful ocean waves. Reports of the collapsed houses were confirmed by the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The organization posted a video of the second collapse, which shows the stilts of the home first breaking apart and then the remaining structure being carried away by the waves.

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I am alive, and I have the chance to rediscover something that motivates me to smile again, to fight, to be a whole person,” said Raquel Oliveira, whose husband and 5-year-old son died in the collapse. The one-story home, located at East Point Drive, is the fourth home in the area to collapse in the last year, Noah Gillam, planning director for Dare County, told Insider. "Sea-level rise and storms are taking out eastern North Carolina today—not a hundred years from now. They're doing it today," Riggs told National Geographic eight years ago. According to NBC affiliate WRAL, nearly $100 million was already spent on beach nourishment in the Outer Banks in 2021alone, with Dare County covering $30 million of the cost for projects in Buxton and Avon. Leaders in Dare County say they can't afford to build back the beaches in Rodanthe without state and federal help. Officials from the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, which is part of the park service, said they will be working closely with the homeowner to coordinate cleanup activities.

"In an effort to protect Cape Hatteras National Seashore's natural resources and help ensure the safety of visitors, the National Park Service began cleaning the beach [Tuesday] morning," said Mike Barber with the National Park Service. Rodanthe loses about 14 feet of beach per year on average, but the severe erosion can spread to as much as 20 feet in some sections, per the North Carolina Coastal Federation, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the state's coast. A chilling video of a house slowly collapsing off its supports and into the ocean was posted Tuesday afternoon.

Rising sea levels can lead to overwash and erosion—meaning the islands could actually eventually disappear, according to National Geographic. In 2014, Stanley Riggs of Eastern Carolina University told the magazine that in 10 years—2024—"it's going to be awful." Hatteras Island, as well as other barrier islands on the Outer Banks, have been affected by the ocean levels rising. Between 2011 and 2015, ocean levels have risen by as much as 5 inches in some areas, according to the Carolina Political Review.

In addition, State Highway 12, the only road that goes to Hatteras Island, is closed until Wednesday. The North Carolina Department of Transportation cites worsening conditions as caused by the high tide as the reason for the closure. However, shifting the financial burden of rebuilding onto tax payers to protect these often high-end homes is a tough sell. Coastal flooding warnings and high surf advisories were in effect through Thursday in North Carolina's Outer Banks region, according to the National Weather Service.

He could not say specifically that the homes are in jeopardy of collapsing, but they were condemned the same day a neighboring house on East Point Drive collapsed into the ocean. In February 2022, a North Carolina beachfront home partially collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean, spreading debris more than seven miles across the coast. Another beachfront home in Rodanthe, North Carolina, has collapsed into the ocean, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore said in a news release on Monday. The house, in Rodanthe, North Carolina on Hatteras Island, is the second to collapse at the seashore Tuesday.

Holding the islands in place by artificial means could make the properties even more vulnerable to be overtaken by waves, however. The two homes that collapsed Tuesday marked the third time a house was taken under by the surf. A public meeting in March hosted by the National Park Service noted that up to nine additional homes in the area were on the verge of collapsing as a result of more than a decade of erosion on the shoreline. Two beach houses collapsed along North Carolina's coast and were taken under by the powerful waves and high tides of the Atlantic Ocean, U.S. National Park Service officials said. Most of the debris is at the site of the collapsed house along East Point Drive, and officials said they are communicating with the owner of the house to coordinate the removal of the house and all related debris on the beach.

The unoccupied homes were located along Ocean Drive in the Outer Banks community of Rodanthe. The park service confirmed both collapses Tuesday and has closed off the areas around the houses. The once-generous stretch of beach in front of the houses has largely vanished in recent months, leaving them vulnerable to the destructive power of the Atlantic Ocean. The two unoccupied homes – housed apart at and Ocean Drive – were in the Outer Banks community of Rodanthe, and no one was hurt. The park service closed the areas around the houses as debris from the homes spread. Officials said they'd work closely with the homeowners to coordinate in coordinating cleanup.

Hours later, a second unoccupied home, also on Ocean Drive, crumbled into the water, the park service said. Local residents who ventured to the beach had to run to avoid being swept up in fast-moving water. Video footage showed the Capitola Wharf split in half and a section of the wharf collapsing into the sea. Water from the ocean and Soquel Creek surged back and forth carrying massive tree trunks.

Over the last few years, the county has grappled with the high cost of beach nourishment, the process of dredging sand from the ocean floor and piping it to the shore to replenish the coast line. Leaders in Dare County say they can no longer afford to build back the beaches without state and federal help. (AP) — Two beach houses have fallen into the waves along North Carolina’s coast, U.S.

The day the building fell and slowly realized the immense scope of the disaster as he traveled to Surfside. He thanked first responders and noted that the state budget he recently signed contains $1 million for a memorial to the 98 people lost. A year ago in the middle of the night, a 12-story oceanfront condo building in Surfside, Fla., came down with a thunderous roar, leaving a giant pile of rubble and claiming 98 lives — one of the deadliest structure collapses in U.S. history.

Dramatic video posted by the park service at Cape Hatteras National Seashore shows the moment the second home, a two-story residence standing on wooden support beams on the sand overlooking the ocean, buckled and fell in the waves. Rodanthe is eroding up to around 12 feet a year, according to some estimates. To address the problem, several residents have called for a beach nourishment project, when sand is dredged from miles offshore and pumped onto the beach.

Federal approval is granted to protect only infrastructure, public safety and public travel. The private and pricey beach cottages in jeopardy of collapsing into the ocean do not qualify, the national park said. He said "varying levels of debris" from the home were reported on Seashore beaches between the north end of Rodanthe and the south end of Avon.