Along North Carolina’s Outer Banks, a third house has fallen into the Atlantic Ocean in five days. This time, a lifeguard caught the dramatic crash on video.
The National Park Service says it happened around 1 p.m. on Tuesday, September 24, and involved a house at 23039 G. A. Kohler Court that wasn’t being used.
Chicamacomico Banks Fire & Rescue shared a video of the two-story house that fell straight into the Atlantic Ocean when its pylons gave way. The house was standing in the water. After that, it hit the side of another house that was also very close to falling.
From the beach, people can be heard yelling in shock as the house falls and starts to bob in the water.
A second video shows that the first floor was destroyed by the waves in just thirty minutes, leaving the second floor floating in a pile of walls and wood that is spreading out quickly.
Reports say that no one was hurt at the spot.
The property owner has hired a company to clean up the mess, and NPS officials say park guards will help. The beaches in the area will stay closed until the trash is taken away.
At different times on Friday, September 20, two homes fell down on G.A. Kohler Court, according to Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Before sunrise and after dusk, both homes were empty when they fell in the dark.
Pieces of the homes have been found up to 20 miles away on beaches that are controlled by the National Park Service.
The National Park Service says that in the last four years, the Atlantic Ocean has destroyed ten houses in the Rodanthe area.
Officials from the National Park Service say that daily winds, waves, and tides, as well as rising seas and storms, have contributed to coastal erosion at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, especially near the towns of Rodanthe and Buxton.
“Many private properties in Rodanthe that used to have backyard land, dunes, and dry sand are now regularly partially or fully covered with water from the ocean.”
Rodanthe is about 215 miles east of Raleigh.