Another unoccupied home collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean in Buxton, North Carolina, late Tuesday — the 20th such collapse in Buxton since September 2025.
This is the latest incident in an ongoing battle against coastal erosion in the Hatteras National Seashore on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
FOX Weather Correspondent Katie Byrne arrived on the scene early Wednesday; neighbors told her it took less than 30 minutes for waves to consume the collapsed home.
Byrne reported that additional pilings had recently been added to the now-destroyed house in an attempt to reinforce it until an expected beach replenishment project begins later this month.
A departing coastal storm remained well offshore Tuesday but still managed to generate rough surf, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a High Surf Advisory.
The National Park Service (NPS) warned people to stay away from remaining debris early Wednesday.
“Due to public safety concerns, all beach access from the north end of Buxton through the lifeguarded beach is temporarily closed until park rangers can assess the area,” the agency said in a statement.
This is now the fifth home to collapse in Buxton this year and the 32nd home to fall into the ocean since 2020.
A home on the seashore was torn down in May to save it from an inevitable collapse, and a series of collapses happened on Feb. 1 and 2 following a powerful nor’easter that slammed the Carolinas with blizzard-like conditions and powerful waves.
Many of these homes were once hundreds of feet from the beach, but are now constantly exposed to the ocean.
According to the NPS, certain homes in the villages of Buxton and Rodanthe are in an intertidal zone – an area that is exposed during low tide, but partially covered by water during high tide.
The 2025 hurricane season was particularly devastating for Buxton, even though no named storms made landfall in the US, as major hurricanes Erin, Humberto and Imelda caused significant beach damage.
Byrne was live in Buxton on Oct. 2, 2025, when a home collapsed immediately behind her; more than a dozen crumbled between September and October.
Many homes directly along the oceanfront are unoccupied after being deemed by federal and local officials to be unsafe.
According to Byrne, many of these properties are rentals, but some owners themselves are renting nearby accommodations while they work to shore up threatened homes or pay steep relocation costs.