Dare County commissioners spent much of their monthly meeting on Monday hearing about and discussing the series of oceanfront house collapses in Buxton and Rodanthe over the past two weeks that has scattered debris along nearly 20 miles of Hatteras Island shoreline.
Board of Commissioners Chair Bob Woodard said the latest collapses mark “the third wave of destruction we’ve had just in the last 60 days,” following back-to-back storms that battered Hatteras Island.
“We’ve lost a total of nine homes — eight in Buxton and one in Rodanthe,” Woodard said, referencing those that fell just last week alone.
“The total assessed values of these houses as of 2025 was $5,457,200,” Woodard said.
Hatteras Island Commissioner Mary Ellon Ballance said watching the destruction in Buxton has been “hard to watch” and “frustrating,” especially given state limits on hardened shoreline structures.
She noted that while those restrictions were intended to protect the environment, “you see the environmental impacts of eight houses or nine houses going down in such a short period of time.”
Woodard praised the work of Cape Hatteras National Seashore Superintendent David Hallac and his staff.
“He has limited staff, as you all know, with the government shutdown,” Woodard said. “This past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, he had like 40 employees show up…and of course, they’re doing this on their own. It’s been an arduous task.”
According to Hallac’s reports shared by county officials, debris stretched approximately 18 miles from Buxton north to Avon.
Crews collected 140 truckloads of material from the beaches near the Buxton lifeguard parking area alone, while additional debris fields remain to be cleared north of the first groin structure.
He added that cleanup teams faced “severe conditions” last Friday and Saturday, with “major flooding and ocean overwash in Buxton and significant overwash on side streets in Rodanthe.”
The beach south of Old Lighthouse Road to near Ramp 43 was already off-limits after petroleum-contaminated soil and abandoned infrastructure from the former Buxton Naval Facility, a decommissioned Cold War-era site already under environmental remediation, was exposed even further by Hurricane Erin last month.
“(Petroleum smells) were moderate during Saturday’s high tide,” Woodard said. “They became strong on Sunday. As a result, (Park Service) staff and the volunteers had to avoid that stretch of the beach.”
The Buxton Civic Association has also played a key role in coordinating volunteer efforts.
“I can’t say enough about the Buxton Civic Association, how engaged they’ve been, how involved they’ve been in prior cleanups from Erin,” Woodard said.
“They’re working on a follow-up volunteer cleanup from these last two incidents. Seven of the eight homeowners have private contractors removing debris… and the Civic Association will be there as well.”
BCA president Brian Harris told commissioners that more collapses are likely in the coming days.
“There’s 13 more (houses standing) in the ocean,” Harris said during the public comment portion of Monday’s meeting.
“The weather forecast this weekend is absolutely horrible. There’s a storm after that,” Harris said. “I just don’t even know what to think.”
Harris said he recently met with senior officials from the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, and members of White House staff to discuss long-term stabilization and funding options for Hatteras Island.
“I’ve spent some time in D.C. with Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum’s team, some time at the EPA with (Administrator) Lee Zeldin’s team, and then some other White House staff, just to discuss the Buxton FUDS site and maybe the beach stabilization stuff,” he said.
During those meetings, Harris said he realized local advocates needed a stronger voice in Washington.
“It kind of occurred to me that I’m the best lobbyist we got,” he told the Board of Commissioners.
“By the time I briefed them and caught them up to speed… we just don’t have the time, so I’ve registered in the District of Columbia as a federal lobbyist,” Harris said. “It was approved by the U.S. Congress. I’m now an official lobbyist for the Buxton Civic Association and the (North Carolina) Beach Buggy Association.”
Harris said one of his first priorities as a registered lobbyist will be to push for federal buyout programs for at-risk homes.
“That’s one of the things I’ll be lobbying in D.C. for — funding to buy these houses out,” he said. “Buxton’s about to look a lot different. Already does.”
Brett Barley, a BCA board member and renowned professional surfer, urged officials to consider emergency sand placement or dredging to stabilize the shoreline, as well as get the jetty near the former lighthouse site repaired.
He noted that the waves from the recent storms weren’t as powerful compared to others, but still caused catastrophic damage.
“What we are seeing is not historical storm surf taking out a town,” Barley said. “What we are seeing is a town eroding away because it was built on land that those jetties shored up.”
Another resident expressed growing concern about the financial impact on local services.
Wendy Munden told the board that the loss of nine homes between Tower Circle and Cottage Avenue represents $3,290.”
She warned that with more collapses possible in the near future, losses to the community’s tax base could affect fire, rescue, sanitation, and beach renourishment funding.
“It’s the trickle-down effect that we’re getting right now,” she said. “I’m concerned with how this affects Buxton and Hatteras Island.”
One of the numerous debris piles along Old Lighthouse Road on Sunday waiting for pickup.
County Manager Bobby Outten told commissioners that the county’s debris removal contractor provided a “not-to-exceed” estimate of $200,000 for the cleanup effort that is now underway.
He explained that crews would begin work immediately to remove debris from the right-of-way and staging areas before worsening weather could scatter it again.
The contractor plans to begin hauling debris out on Wednesday, and then continue on Thursday and Friday if necessary.
“We’re hoping that they’re going to have it out on the road by Wednesday,” Outten said. “Because if they don’t, then we’re going to have a really big problem. We’re going to start all over again next week.”
Outten said the county would reassess conditions early next week and, if necessary, bring the contractor back.
“His mobilization fee is only a couple of thousand dollars, so it’s not really expensive for him to go and come back,” Outten told the board. “If we need him, we can always bring him back if we have damages that occur over the weekend.”
Also as a precautionary measure, Outten also asked commissioners to authorize the transfer of $5 million from other county reserves into the county’s storm fund for future clean-ups throughout Dare County.
Ballance urged Dare County, state and federal agencies, and the Buxton Civic Association to work together on “proactive conversations about what we can do in the future,” stressing that “Mother Nature is not going to stop.”
She praised county crews for “mobilizing to get as much of that out of there before this weekend that we can” ahead of this weekend’s forecast of strong winds and high surf.
Despite the devastation, Ballance said she wanted to keep the situation “in perspective,” noting that “as terrible as it is for us to see what we’re seeing right now, there’s other people that are still hurting” from past disasters elsewhere in the state.
Woodard said he remains hopeful, but realistic, with the threat of more damaging waves on the way later this week along the Outer Banks.
“We just have to hold our breath and keep our fingers crossed,” Woodard said.
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