Excerpt:
The houses collapsed Tuesday, and officials warned that more damage is possible in the coming days..
Six homes have collapsed into the churning Atlantic Ocean surf in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, the latest in what has become a common sight in recent years along the state’s erosion-plagued coast.
First on Tuesday afternoon, five unoccupied houses surrendered to the sea in the small town of Buxton, located on Hatteras Island. Three were along Cottage Avenue; two others were on nearby Tower Circle Road. The collapses occurred between 2 p.m. and 2:45 p.m., and no injuries were reported. Then later that day, a sixth house, on Tower Circle Road, collapsed, according to local media reports and an online post from the Hatteras Island Community Emergency Response Team.
The seas remained rough on Wednesday, as officials warned of localized flooding. Officials with the National Park Service urged visitors to stay away from the sites of the crumbling homes and to use caution for miles to the south “due to the presence of potentially hazardous debris” on the beach and in the surf.
The agency called the situation “ongoing,” warning that further collapses were possible due to the rough ocean conditions fueled by Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda churning offshore.
Photos and videos from Buxton showed massive piles of lumber, shingles and other debris sloshing in the rough surf…
“This is becoming a regular occurrence,” said Rob Young, director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University. Young has been an advocate for coastal communities to more thoughtfully — and proactively — move people and assets out of harm’s way as seas rise and storms grow more intense and frequent.
“Often, we hear the refrain from coastal communities that we aren’t going to retreat from the oceanfront,” he said. “We are retreating. We are just doing it in an unmanaged way, rather than a managed way. … We are doing it in the worst possible way…”
