Debris removal begins at site of Rodanthe home collapse
Debris removal began just hours after an oceanfront Rodanthe home collapsed early Friday morning, however, visitors are advised to use caution along the nearby beaches, as the debris field extends roughly 10 miles south to ORV Ramp 25 as of Friday afternoon.
“We have 19 staff members that went out to move debris above the high tide line, and also to speak with visitors and give them warnings about some of the debris that’s in the water and on the beach,” said Mike Barber, Public Affairs Specialist for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
“Cape Hatteras National Seashore staff have made dozens of piles of debris above the high tide line from Ramp 23 and 25 to the north. Staff have also moved debris away from the water line near the Dare County Beach Access [in Rodanthe].”
A contractor hired by the homeowner was also at the site on Friday to clear chunks of the former structure from the collapse site, and from the southern beaches near the Rodanthe Pier. “The efforts, so far, have involved piling up as much debris as possible above the high tide line,” said Barber.
The four-bedroom, three-bathroom house, located at 23001 G A Kohler Court in Rodanthe, was built in 1992 and was owned by a resident of Hampton, Virginia. It was unoccupied at the time of the collapse and had a total structure and land tax value of $280,600, according to Dare County tax records.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore staff are also monitoring an adjacent house that sustained damages because of Friday’s house collapse.
“We’ve been monitoring that house, as it was already in danger,” said Barber. “[But] it appears that several of the pilings were taken out, so it has an elevated chance of collapsing.”
The home that collapsed early Friday morning, September 20, is the third Rodanthe house to collapse in 2024, and the eighth house to collapse since 2020.
- The previous 2024 home collapses included an unoccupied home on Corbina Drive that collapsed on August 16 and a home at the end of Ocean Drive in Rodanthe that collapsed on May 28.
- In March 2023, an oceanfront home collapsed at East Point Drive in Rodanthe.
- On May 10, 2022, two unoccupied homes, located on Ocean Drive, collapsed within a 12-hour period.
- In February 2022 and May 2020, two additional Rodanthe homes in the Ocean Drive vicinity also collapsed into the ocean.
All of these home collapses resulted in a large debris field on Hatteras Island, which was addressed and cleaned up by the National Park Service, local volunteers, and/or contractors enlisted by the homeowners themselves.
No personal injuries were reported in connection with any of the collapses.
