A viral video shows a beachfront house in Outer Banks, North Carolina, collapsing and floating away due to the major waves created by Hurricane Ernesto on Saturday.
According to The New York Times, the beachfront home’s collapse came after Hurricane Ernesto made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on Saturday morning. The outlet reported that local officials said the house was already at risk of collapsing and that the hurricane’s huge waves and high tides appeared to be too much for the beachfront home.
According to the National Parks Service, Saturday’s house collapse in Rodanthe, North Carolina, is the seventh house collapse on the beaches of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore region over the past four years.
Sharing a video on social media of Saturday’s house collapse, Collin Rugg, co-owner of Trending Politics, tweeted, “Beachfront home falls into the Atlantic Ocean on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The incident was thanks to Hurricane Ernesto which is off the coast in the Atlantic.”
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The video of the house collapse shows the strong tide sweeping under the house’s pilings before the home crashes into the ocean. After crashing into the sea, the house appears to drift in the water as the waves continue to crash against it.
The New York Times reported that the Outer Banks home was unoccupied at the time of Saturday’s collapse. The National Parks Service noted that no one was injured in Saturday’s house collapse and that no injuries have been reported in the other six beachfront house collapse incidents in the region over the past four years.
According to an online real estate listing, the North Carolina home was initially constructed in 1973 and most recently was purchased in 2018 for $339,000.
After Saturday’s incident, the National Parks Service released a warning to the public, stating, “Following the collapse of an unoccupied beach house this evening, Cape Hatteras National Seashore (Seashore) and the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge strongly urges all visitors to avoid the beaches and stay out of the water around all areas of the beaches and surf in Rodanthe.”
The National Parks Service added, “Additionally, all public entry from the northern boundary of Rodanthe up to the northern end of the Jug Handle Bridge is closed. Many other homes appear to have sustained damages in the Rodanthe area. Dangerous debris may be present on the beach and in the water for more than a dozen miles.”
