OAN Staff Blake Wolf
12:36 PM – Wednesday, October 1, 2025
Six beach houses in Buxton, North Carolina, collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean as a result of Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda. Five of these homes fell within a 45-minute period in the afternoon, with a sixth collapsing later that day.
The North Carolina beach houses were swept away into the ocean on Tuesday, as Hurricane Humberto and Imelda whipped past the East Coast.
Fortunately, no injuries were reported, as all the homes were vacant at the time. However, further house collapses are possible as the conditions are “ongoing,” according to the National Park Service.
“Very hazardous conditions are expected to continue over the next 24 hours and visitors should stay away from closed areas,” the national park added. “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.”
The waves forcefully carried the houses onto the shore, trailing broken stilts and fragments of wooden frames. Both hurricanes remained offshore, with the winds mainly impacting coastal properties.
Planning director for Dare County, Noah Gilliam, revealed on Wednesday that the collapsed homes were among 35 structures that were decertified for occupancy since August — due to erosion damage — as sea levels slowly rise.
Eighteen homes have now collapsed on Seashore beaches since 2020, according to the park service.
A 2024 report from federal, state, and local officials stated that 750 oceanfront structures in North Carolina are considered at risk from erosion.
In response to these ongoing challenges, local officials are considering mitigation strategies — such as beach nourishment and property buyouts.
“This is becoming a regular occurrence,” added Rob Young, the director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University. “Often, we hear the refrain from coastal communities that we aren’t going to retreat from the oceanfront … 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.”
“This is not just a North Carolina problem,” Young added. “There are homes teetering on the edge in a lot of places.”
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