Republished from the Island Free Press
Less than 12 hours after an oceanfront house collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean in Buxton, dozens of National Park Service employees, local residents, visitors, fishermen, and members of the North Carolina Beach Buggy Association (NCBBA) joined forces Wednesday to clear debris from the shoreline stretching from Cape Point to the Buxton groins.
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The cleanup effort followed the Tuesday night collapse of an unoccupied house at 46000 Ocean Drive, which fell into the ocean at approximately 10:30 p.m., scattering debris along miles of shoreline and prompting Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CHNS) to temporarily close beach access from the north end of Buxton through the lifeguarded beach while officials assessed public safety hazards.
NCBBA Vice President Dan Rothermel began organizing cleanup efforts before sunrise Wednesday in coordination with CHNS Superintendent David Hallac.
Rothermel was on the beach at Cape Point shortly after 5 a.m., where anglers who were already fishing immediately began helping remove debris.
“The fishermen who were out there cleaned up around their areas and gathered debris into piles for us,” Rothermel said. “It was really helpful and was so great to see everybody pitching in.”
As the morning progressed, additional NCBBA members and volunteers arrived, and the cleanup operation expanded northward toward the southernmost Buxton groin.
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By midday, several dozen volunteers were working along the beach, collecting lumber, insulation, siding, household materials, and other debris from the collapsed structure. The shoreline from the groins to Cape Point was effectively cleared within hours.
According to CHNS, 25 National Park Service employees worked for several hours alongside approximately 20 members of the NCBBA and local anglers, bringing the total cleanup workforce to roughly 45 people. Using heavy equipment and multiple dumpsters provided by Dare County, crews removed large quantities of debris from the beach and adjacent areas.
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, the seashore thanked its volunteer partners, including the NCBBA and the Buxton Civic Association, for helping coordinate and carry out the cleanup effort. Park officials also expressed appreciation to Dare County for supplying and transporting the dumpsters that made the large-scale debris removal possible.
The most recent collapse marked the latest in a series of erosion-related home losses along the oceanfront.
With Tuesday night’s collapse, 21 oceanfront homes have now fallen on Hatteras Island since September 2025, including 20 in Buxton and one in Rodanthe. Since 2020, a total of 32 oceanfront homes have collapsed along Cape Hatteras National Seashore beaches.
The house that collapsed Tuesday had been identified as a threatened structure, and Dare County had been attempting to purchase the property from the owner in hopes of demolishing it before the upcoming Buxton beach nourishment project or before it collapsed into the ocean.
Following the collapse, CHNS issued a warning urging visitors to stay off the beach and out of the water from Buxton Village south to Cape Point because of hazardous debris scattered along the shoreline.
Cleanup operations are expected to continue in the coming days as crews work to remove smaller debris that remains in the area. Park officials said they are working to reopen affected beach areas as soon as conditions allow.
The Buxton Civic Association has announced an additional community cleanup effort for Thursday, June 4, at 9 a.m. at Cape Court. Volunteers will help bag smaller debris and move larger materials into piles for later disposal. Participants are encouraged to bring work gloves and wear closed-toe shoes.
This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review partners with Island Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast.
