Debris from Friday’s collapse of another oceanfront home on the Outer Banks has spread north over 11 miles of beach at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, with “substantial damage” reported to several other cottages nearby, the National Park Service said Sunday.
Coastal flood and high surf advisories remain in effect for much of the Outer Banks through Monday morning due to swells from distant Tropical Storm Ernesto combined with higher-than-usual tides from the nearly full moon.
The unoccupied cottage at 23214 Corbina Drive in Rodanthe is the seventh beachfront home to fall into the ocean in the same area since 2020.
The park service on Sunday closed a section of beach in Rodanthe from Mirlo Beach to the parking lot north of the Jug Handle Bridge, with cleanup underway.
As of Sunday morning, rangers reported serious damage to “several other” threatened oceanfront structures in northern Rodanthe between the G.A. Kohler Drive area and the north end of Mirlo Beach, the park service said in a release.
“Visitors should avoid the beach in these areas due to the presence of hazardous debris,” the release said..
The park service is working with Dare County on a “detailed assessment of debris and hazards associated with damaged structures in Rodanthe,” the release said. “Coordination will occur between house owners, rental property management companies, and the seashore once elevated surf conditions subside, and the full extent of damage is known.”
Ernesto’s impacts also were felt this weekend in Hatteras Island’s Buxton community, with elevated surf and erosion causing ocean overwash under many homes and into neighborhoods near the Village of Buxton.
Park service staff on Sunday reported evidence of compromised septic systems and hazardous debris broken off of beachfront houses on the beach and in the water. Beachgoers are warned to stay out of the ocean until water testing is complete.
The park service and local ocean rescue officials are also warning visitors to keep out of the ocean across the Outer Banks this weekend due to a high risk of rip currents, hazardous shore break and rough ocean conditions.
Beach house in Rodanthe is pulled into Atlantic Ocean, carried off
