Several houses along North Carolina’s Outer Banks collapse into Atlantic ocean

Five unoccupied houses along North Carolina’s Outer Banks collapsed into the ocean on Tuesday as Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda rumbled in the Atlantic, the National Park Service said, marking the latest private beachfront structures to fall into the surf there in recent years. 

The homes, once propped on high stilts, collapsed in the afternoon in Buxton, a community on one of a string of islands that make up the Outer Banks, said Mike Barber, a spokesperson for the park service.

No injuries were reported, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore said in a post on social media.

In a video taken by Brayan Garcia, homes teetered on stilts battered by the waves before plunging into the surf. The shoreline was clogged with debris, two-by-fours, cushions and an entire home as wave after wave rolled in from the Atlantic.

“Seashore visitors are urged to stay away from the collapsed house sites and to use caution for miles to the south of the sites, due to the presence of potentially hazardous debris,” Cape Hatteras National Seashore’s post said.

The post also said more collapses were possible given the ocean conditions.

It’s the second time in six weeks that the Outer Banks faced strong waves churned by a hurricane. In late August, Hurricane Erin brought rough surfs and high tides to Rodanthe, North Carolina, where beachfront homes appeared to be on the verge of collapse.

North Carolina’s coast is almost entirely made up of narrow, low-lying barrier islands that have been eroding amid sea level rise for years. Seventeen privately owned houses have collapsed on Seashore beaches since 2020, the park service said. 

The first 15 were located north of Buxton in Rodanthe, but a Buxton home fell into the surf two weeks ago.

The threat to these structures often builds when storms affect the region, as is the case with the two latest storms, even as they headed further out in the Atlantic. Barrier islands like the Outer Banks were never an ideal place for development, according to experts. The islands typically form as waves deposit sediment off the mainland, and they move based on weather patterns and other ocean forces, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Ocean Service. Some even disappear.

Portions of eastern North Carolina were subject to coastal flood advisories and warnings, the National Weather Service said, while dangerous surf conditions were expected in the area through the rest of the week.

Ocean overwash on Tuesday also prompted the state Transportation Department to close a portion of North Carolina Highway 12 on Ocracoke Island. The ferry connecting Ocracoke and Hatteras islands was also suspended on Tuesday, the department said.

Swells generated by Hurricanes Imelda and Humberto are expected to affect parts of the U.S. East Coast for the next few days. 

Imelda is the ninth named storm of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season. It formed on the heels of Hurricane Humberto, which rapidly intensified to a major hurricane over the Atlantic on Saturday, but it is not expected to reach land. Imelda is forecast to drift farther east through the week.