Hurricane Ernesto: Rough seas along the North Carolina Outer Banks collapses home in Rodanthe, litters beach with debris

RODANTHE, N.C. (WTVD) — Rough seas from Hurricane Ernesto have sent at least one home into the ocean in Rodanthe.

Video and pictures posted by Chicamacomico Banks Fire & Rescue show the breathtaking scene with debris littering the beach and a whole home floating in the surf.

“Please do not enter the ocean as the debris will be washing around for the next few days,” the first responders wrote on social media.

The area where this is happening is along Corbina Drive, and homes like this collapsing into the ocean is becoming all too frequent a problem in the Outer Banks. Just in the past 4 years there have been six homes in Rodanthe that have collapsed.

Collapsing homes along the ocean can cause a myriad of problems for people as well as the local ecosystem. That’s why the Superintendent of the National Park Service covering Cape Hatteras launched a pilot program to buy up some of the homes to tear them down.

“We had to have willing sellers’ houses that were essentially in the ocean at high tide every day. We found the money to purchase those properties. We removed the houses completely, demolished them completely and restored the beach. And if we went out to that location today, you wouldn’t have much to see because it would just be a beautiful beach,” said David Hullac with the U.S. National Park Service.

They’ve successfully bought two homes and want to see the state fund the program even more.