16 oceanfront homes in Buxton and Rodanthe have collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean since mid-September 2025, resulting in widespread debris along the shoreline and prompting an extensive cleanup effort by local and federal stakeholders along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CHNS).
Most of the losses are concentrated along Buxton’s Tower Circle, Cottage Avenue, and Ocean Drive neighborhoods — a section of shoreline that has benefited from federally engineered protection in the past, but has recently lost much of that buffer.
The events in Buxton are not the result of a single failure but of many forces converging at once — persistent erosion, beach engineering timelines, policy hurdles, and limited insurance or funding for demolition. Together, they have created a landscape where even well-intentioned solutions are difficult to finance, approve, or sustain.
Rising losses along the Buxton shoreline
The first house fell on September 16 on Tower Circle Road, and by the end of October, 15 more had followed, including one in Rodanthe. Each collapse prompted temporary beach closures, extended debris-removal operations, and resulted in safety warnings for visitors.
County property records show that nine of the 16 homes were purchased within the past four years, primarily by off-island investors or second-home owners. Their collective purchase price exceeds $5.3 million, averaging roughly $595,000 each.
Nearly all are listed as vacation rentals, reflecting a wider trend: most oceanfront homes on this stretch of Buxton’s beach are not year-round residences but short-term rental investments.
Before the collapse
Once waves reach a house’s septic field or undermines pilings, it becomes officially “threatened.” Dare County and CHNS inspectors notify owners in writing, advising that the structure is unstable and may soon fall. CHNS spokesperson Mike Barber said in an earlier interview that the Seashore has contacted “more than 30 owners of threatened oceanfront structures” in Buxton and Rodanthe since 2023 to encourage relocation or demolition.
If an owner moves forward, they must apply for a free special use permit from the National Park Service (NPS) to bring in demolition equipment or to stage debris. However, the cost of privately contracted demo work — often between $25,000 and $40,000 or more — is borne entirely by the owner.
That financial gap has become one of the central policy frustrations for Outer Banks officials. Neither CHNS nor Dare County has the authority to compel demolition of private property within the Seashore’s boundaries, leaving mitigation largely voluntary.
There’s precedent for this limitation. Roughly a decade ago, local officials in Nags Head attempted to compel homeowners to remove condemned oceanfront dwellings before they became public nuisances. The town lost the legal battle, which ended with a $1.7 million expense to local taxpayers. That history has made officials cautious about pursuing forced removals today.
After the collapse
When a structure falls, CHNS immediately closes nearby beach sections and issues public warnings. Debris can spread quickly, propelled by wind and currents. Fragments from a single Buxton collapse in 2025 were found more than three miles to the north within 48 hours, and the Rodanthe debris field extended for 10 miles or more along the shoreline.
Homeowners are technically responsible for cleanup and are expected to hire contractors. When they do not, or when additional efforts are needed (which is often the case), CHNS takes the lead to protect public safety and wildlife habitat. In recent weeks, Dare County’s debris contractor has also handled materials staged by homeowners near the road, while Park Service personnel and volunteers have removed debris from the shoreline.
Following the September–October collapses, CHNS crews hauled more than 400 truckloads of debris during cleanup, with additional collections continuing for weeks afterward. Items retrieved included wood framing, nails, insulation, carpet, furniture, and septic components. Once large debris is cleared, CHNS staff use sifters and hand tools to remove smaller materials that pose hazards to beachgoers.
In fact, these smaller-debris removal actions were being conducted last week, before five more homes collapsed on Tuesday, inundating the shoreline with a new wave of larger materials.
Federal shutdown adds uncertainty
Following Tuesday’s collapses, cleanup operations this time will continue under the shadow of an ongoing federal government shutdown. CHNS staff are working, but may be doing so without pay. A prolonged funding lapse could slow debris-removal efforts if staff availability or equipment support changes.
As of late October, CHNS had not announced any operational reductions for emergency cleanups, but a continued shutdown could affect longer-term recovery work.
Buxton’s engineered beach and erosion history
The Buxton area where most collapses occurred has been an engineered beach for decades, meaning that manmade efforts have repeatedly altered the shape of the shoreline.
The first nourishment project took place in the 1970s, and a 2.9-mile stretch was nourished in 2017-2018, with a maintenance project following in 2022. These projects placed millions of cubic yards of sand between the former Cape Hatteras Lighthouse site and northern Buxton to protect N.C. Highway 12 from ocean overwash.
A nourishment project is expected to provide a five- to seven-year buffer, but by early 2025, most of the sand added in 2022 had eroded.
Another Buxton beach nourishment project is scheduled for the summer of 2026, but it cannot be moved up due to seasonal limitations. In the winter, ocean conditions along the Outer Banks are typically too rough for a dredge to safely operate and pump sand from an offshore borrow site to the beach, a process that requires relatively calm seas and steady weather.
In the meantime, without that sand buffer, wave energy has returned directly to the base of the oceanfront side streets of Tower Circle Road and Cottage Avenue — precisely where multiple houses have collapsed since September.
Jetty repairs in the works
In parallel, the southernmost Buxton jetty, built in 1969–1970 to stabilize the former Naval Facility Cape Hatteras, will soon undergo long-awaited repairs.
Local officials, including the Buxton Civic Association (BCA), have advocated for additional jetties or extensions to slow erosion. While many stakeholders support maintaining existing structures for navigational and safety reasons, state law generally prohibits new hardened erosion controls except under limited circumstances that must be passed by state legislators.
Erosion rates in Buxton have historically averaged six to eight feet per year but have increased in recent years due to sea level rise, storm frequency, and the loss of nourishment sand — all compounded, according to many, by the accelerating deterioration of the Buxton jetties.
Regardless of the precise cause — or more likely, a combination of causes — these accelerated erosion rates and multiple fall nor’easters have created a perfect storm for structural damage along the northern Buxton shoreline.
Insurance challenges compound risks
Even as erosion accelerates, property owners face limited financial options. North Carolina requires insurers to participate in a statewide Rate Bureau, which sets baseline homeowners’ and wind-insurance rates across the state. That system keeps policies available but leaves most Outer Banks property owners dependent on the federal National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for flood coverage.
The average NFIP policy covers up to $250,000 for structures and $100,000 for contents — caps that often fall short for oceanfront homes valued between $500,000 and $1 million. In addition, NFIP and private homeowners’ policies do not pay to move or demolish a home that is still standing, even if it is clearly at risk of collapse.
A bipartisan bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) in 2024 would allow early NFIP payouts — up to $250,000 — to help owners remove or relocate imminently threatened structures before they fall. The proposal mirrors the short-lived Upton-Jones Amendment of the late 1980s, which was repealed after only a few years. As of October 2025, Murphy’s bill remains in committee.
Until such measures pass, demolition remains an out-of-pocket expense for homeowners, even though preventive removals would likely be less expensive and far less disruptive for the community at large.
Could a state of emergency be declared for Buxton?
Although a strong coastal low pressure system is continuing to impact Hatteras Island, no state of emergency has been declared at the state level.
Under North Carolina’s Emergency Management Act (N.C. G.S. 166A-19.30), the governor may issue a state of emergency when an event “endangers life, property, or the environment” and requires the mobilization of state resources. In practice, these declarations are typically reserved for widespread or life-threatening situations, such as hurricanes or major flooding events that require evacuations or large-scale emergency operations across multiple counties.
Still, local Buxton leaders searching for any and all solutions continue to call for stronger intervention, including a potential state of emergency, in the wake of this week’s nor’easter. They argue that an official declaration could help bring greater resources, funding, and long-term policy attention to a problem that has now become routine along the most vulnerable stretch of Buxton’s oceanfront.
A recurring pattern
Despite widespread attention after each collapse, the cycle has remained largely unchanged. The Buxton shoreline retreats several feet each year until a storm or high tide undermines the foundation of a house. Owners receive warnings but often lack the financial means or incentive to take action, and eventually the structure gives way, scattering debris along the beach. In the aftermath, the Park Service, the homeowner, and volunteers work to clear the shoreline, yet the larger question of how to prevent the next collapse remains unresolved.
It should also be highlighted that while the erosion in Buxton has drawn national headlines, it represents a relatively small portion of Hatteras Island’s shoreline. Beyond this narrow stretch of northern Buxton, many of the island’s beaches remain wide, clean, and accessible, supporting the tourism, recreation, and fishing that drive the local economy.
Looking ahead
As of late October, multiple houses near Old Lighthouse Road in Buxton remain at risk. Officials and CHNS continue to monitor foundations and septic systems that have become exposed and communicate with homeowners as needed. High-tide flooding naturally becomes more frequent in the fall, when hurricanes and low pressure systems are more likely to form, and overwash routinely reaches N.C. Highway 12 during these weeks of strong northeast winds.
Officials are now pursuing three parallel efforts to protect Buxton: securing permits and funding for the next nourishment cycle in the summer of 2026, launching the upcoming jetty-repair project during the same timeframe, and continuing to lobby for federal legislation that would allow proactive demolition assistance through NFIP reform.
In the meantime, cleanup continues as it has for the past several years — with Park Service crews, homeowner-enlisted contractors, and community volunteers working together to remove debris after each collapse. Until broader insurance or funding solutions emerge, Buxton and Rodanthe will remain at the forefront of Hatteras Island’s ongoing erosion challenges.
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