Several more beach homes have crashed into the ocean along North Carolina’s Outer Banks, littering the shoreline with hazardous debris while raising the total number of felled homes along the barrier island to 31 since 2020.
Video posted on social media shows entire homes buckling and bobbing away in the powerful surf along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in the wake of a historic winter storm that brought high wind gusts and several inches of snow to the Carolinas.
As of Sunday, four homes in Buxton have fallen into the Atlantic. This brings the total number of homes lost to the surrounding ocean to 20 since September, and 31 since May of 2020, the National Park Service said.
All four of the privately owned homes were unoccupied at the time of their destruction, officials said.
Officials are trying to work with the property owners to develop a cleanup strategy, which has not been easy, said David Hallac, superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, which is managed by the National Park Service.