Nature
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Hurricane Ernesto battered homes and businesses across North Carolina, Bermuda, and the Bahamas as strong winds and swells caused damage along the islands and east coast of the USA. In Rodanthe in Dare County, North Carolina, one beach home was even swept completely out to sea.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.On Friday, August 16, a house at 23214 Corbina Drive was filmed being washed out to sea by bystanders in the area. The debris from the house was also found around 17 kilometers (11 miles) north of the area where the house had collapsed. The National Parks Service warns anyone trying to reach that area that many roads are closed due to safety concerns. They also warn people not to go to the beaches or enter the water because of dangerous debris that is still present, especially around Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
In the video, the house can be seen floating freely in the surf. Fortunately, the house itself, a beach vacation rental property, was unoccupied at the time, but marks the seventh house to collapse into the sea in four years in the area.
The X account for the National Weather Service, Newport/Morehead City wrote: “large and powerful swells from Ernesto will produce strong rip currents, as well as several coastal threats over the next few days due to the higher than normal tides.”
Chicamacomico Banks Fire & Rescue posted a video on their Facebook page showing the house floating into the surf from a different angle, as well as photos of the aftermath.
A bipartisan bill was proposed earlier this year that would help homeowners with houses at risk of collapsing by giving them up to $250,000 to either safely demolish or relocate these beachfront houses, reports Spectrum Local News.
