Dare County’s debris removal contractor will begin collecting Wednesday the tons of debris that resulted from a spate of oceanfront houses that collapsed within the last week, ahead of the bad weather forecast for this weekend.
County commissioners during their regular meeting Monday in Manteo discussed the aftermath left behind when eight houses in Buxton and one in Rodanthe fell between Sept. 30 and Oct. 3, littering Cape Hatteras National Seashore beaches with lumber, furniture, insulation, siding, nails and other debris for nearly 20 miles.
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County Manager Bobby Outten explained that the intention was to wait until next week to bring the contractor in but decided to start sooner because of the impending weather.
“Let’s get those contractors in there to get finished taking the debris that’s there now and get it to the road so we can get it out,” Outten said. “And then we’ll deal with the weekend on Monday. We’ll see where we are. If there’s more houses and there’s more debris, then we can get the contractor back down here.”
Assistant County Manager Dustin Peele explained to the commission that last week he saw a “substantial amount of debris” at the right-of-way of Old Lighthouse Road, the designated area for private contractors to deliver what they cleaned up. The county’s contractor will pick up the debris from there starting Wednesday.
The debris field in Rodanthe was heavy for the first few miles, and then it tapered off, stretching approximately 18 miles north to Avon, Chairman Bob Woodard said in his opening remarks.
He explained that the total assessed value of these nine houses as of 2025 was $5,457,200. The houses were built between 1973 and 1998, and vary in size from about 1,130 square feet to 2,188 square feet.
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One of the nine property owners has a mailing address in Dare County, three have property owners somewhere else in North Carolina, three have Virginia addresses, and two have Maryland addresses.
Woodard thanked Cape Hatteras National Seashore Superintendent Dave Hallac, who is working with a limited staff because of the government shutdown, for the cleanup that’s already taken place in Rodanthe and Buxton over the weekend.
“Ocean overwash and hazardous conditions from Thursday through Tuesday are potential,” Woodard said Monday. “As you know, today starts a another high tide situation that could bring some more damage to both the Buxton area and Rodanthe with knocking down some potential other residences. So we just have to hold our breath and keep our fingers crossed.”
Brian Harris with the Buxton Civic Association reiterated during the public comment period that nine houses have already fallen and there’s “13 more in the ocean” that could fall.
Harris said that with the weather forecast for this weekend being absolutely horrible, he expects three or four more houses to fall as a result.
“There’s just no way around it,” he continued, adding they’ve “got to be smart with this nourishment and, you know, retreating is definitely in the answer. You know these houses got to go.”
Harris, who told the commission that he is the official lobbyist for the association, intends to lobby in Washington, D.C., for funding to buy the houses.
He expressed thanked the county for the work taking place to help the communities, adding “we’ll get through this, but Buxton is about to look a lot different. It already does.”
