A third home in five days has collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean along North Carolina’s Outer Banks and this time the dramatic crash was recorded by a lifeguard.
It happened around 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24, on what used to be the end of America Drive in Rodanthe, according to Chicamacomico Banks Fire & Rescue.
Video shared by the department shows the two-story home was essentially standing in the ocean when its pylons gave way, sending it falling straight down into the Atlantic. It then smacked into the side of another home that was also precariously close to falling.
People watching from the beach are heard crying out in surprise as the home falls, then begins to bob in the surf.
A second video shows waves had ripped apart the first floor within half an hour, leaving the second floor floating in a fast-spreading pile of walls and wood.
There are no reports of injuries at the scene.
America Drive is one side of the same block where two homes collapsed hours apart on Friday, Sept. 20, Cape Hatteras National Seashore reports.
Those homes were on G.A. Kohler Court, which parallels the ocean. Both homes were unoccupied when they collapsed in the dark — one before sunrise and one after sunset.
Debris from the homes has been found as far as 20 miles away, washed up on beaches governed by the National Park Service.
The Atlantic Ocean has claimed 10 homes in the Rodanthe area in the past four years, the National Park Service reports.
“The daily effects of winds, waves, and tides, along with rising seas and storms, have played a part in contributing to coastal erosion impacts at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, particularly adjacent to the villages of Rodanthe and Buxton,” NPS officials say.
“Many private properties adjacent to the beach in Rodanthe, which previously contained backyard land, dunes, and dry sand, are either partially or fully covered with ocean water on a regular basis.”
Rodanthe is about a 215-mile drive east from Raleigh.
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