VIDEO: $381K North Carolina House On Stilts Fall Into Ocean, Second In Same Day
Two houses located along the coast of North Carolina’s beaches collapsed Tuesday and were swept away by the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, according to the National Park Service.
Officials from the park service said the house located at 24265 Ocean Dr. in Rodanthe, North Carolina, was unoccupied when it fell from its stilts into the ocean on Tuesday afternoon.
A second house at 24235 Ocean Dr. also collapsed at the Seashore beaches that morning, according to park officials. It was also unoccupied.
The house at 24265 Ocean Dr. was valued at $381,200, according to Zillow estimates. The home at 24235 Ocean Dr. had a value of $663,000, also according to Zillow estimates.
No one was hurt in the incidents. The beach all along Ocean Dr. was closed following the home collapses due to hazards and because additional homes may collapse.
Visitors have been urged to use caution in the areas as debris is widespread across the Seashore beaches.
North Carolina’s Outer Banks region is under a coastal flooding warning and high surf advisory through Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
These were not the first incidents of homes collapsing into the coastal waters of the North Carolina community of Rodanthe. Park officials said the surf took a home at 24183 Ocean Dr. on Feb. 9.
The debris from the house was spread miles along the beaches before the homeowner and volunteers organized a cleanup event to remove much of it. Cleanup efforts for smaller debris continue to this day, park officials said.
“Unfortunately, there may be more houses that collapse onto Seashore beaches in the near future,” David Hallac, superintendent of National Parks of Eastern North Carolina, said in a statement. “We proactively reached out to homeowners along Ocean Drive in Rodanthe after the first house collapse and recommended that actions be taken to prevent collapse and impacts to Cape Hatteras National Seashore.”
According to a public meeting held by the National Park Service, at least nine more homes are at risk of collapse due to erosion of the shoreline that has been occurring for more than a decade, as reported by USA Today.
The National Park Service said it is working closely with homeowners to coordinate cleanup efforts on the recent homes that collapsed and would provide updates when available.
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