Hatteras Island Just Ordered Visitors Out — 32 Houses Have Already Fallen Into the Sea

At 8 p.m. on Friday, October 16, every visitor on Hatteras Island was ordered to leave. A nor'easter had stalled off the North Carolina coast, the ferries to Ocracoke were about to stop, and the National Weather Service told residents to prepare to be stranded for days. By Sunday night, the National Park Service warned that several oceanfront houses in Rodanthe were structurally compromised and at risk of collapse. Since 2020, 32 privately owned homes have collapsed into the ocean on the beaches of Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Twenty of them fell in Buxton in just nine months. Two weeks before this storm, Buxton finished a $42 million beach rebuild. Now that new sand is facing its first real test. We go through the storm as it unfolds, the houses that are next in line, why the Outer Banks are losing homes faster than almost anywhere in America, and the insurance rule that leaves owners waiting for their houses to fall. What you'll see: Why a stalled nor'easter can be more dangerous for these beaches than a hurricane The evacuation order, the ferry shutdowns and the warnings to prepare to be stranded The Rodanthe houses the Park Service says are at risk of collapse How 32 houses fell into the Atlantic since 2020, and 20 of them in Buxton in nine months The $42 million of new sand in Buxton, finished 13 days before the evacuation Why federal flood insurance won't pay until a house actually collapses The high tides, full moon and El Niño winter that come next Every figure in this video comes from the National Park Service, the National Weather Service, NCDOT, Dare County and local reporting. #OuterBanks #Noreaster #BreakingNews