Beaches close after 5 homes collapse on North Carolina's Outer Banks

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Strong winds from a low pressure system over North Carolina's Outer Banks wreaked more havoc on Oct. 28, flooding the island chain's only highway in several locations and collapsing another five unoccupied houses in Buxton.

The houses are among 16 that have collapsed along the coast on Hatteras Island in just six weeks, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore announced on Tuesday, Oct. 28.

The scattered debris and housing materials from the collapsed houses forced two beach closures within the Seashore, the park service said in a Facebook post. It advised visitors to avoid travel for at least one hour before and after high tide, when the ocean washing over the road and water seeping onto the road are more likely.

The closures are in place "because of dozens of threatened oceanfront structures that may break apart or collapse, releasing hazardous debris into the water and onto Seashore beaches," the post stated. "The proximity of these damaged structures to Seashore lands poses a serious risk to visitors walking along the beach or wading in the surf.

Winds along the Outer Banks gusted into the 40s and 50s on Oct. 28, as well as large breaking waves and high water levels, the National Weather Service reported. The coastal flooding conditions and rough surf were forecast to continue through Wednesday, the weather service said.

Officials with the North Carolina Department of Transportation said the ocean washing over North Carolina's Highway 12 had closed the roadway on Ocracoke Island and on Pea Island, but both closures were expected to be lifted by noon on Oct. 29.

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Learn more: See where Outer Banks houses have collapsed

The North Carolina coast has been battered in recent weeks by a string of hurricanes offshore, other storm systems and seasonal high tides. Erosion has been reported in Surf City, Topsail Beach, Wrightsville Beach and Ocean Isle Beach.

Last year, six houses on the Outer Banks collapsed in Rodanthe. In total 27 houses along the Seashore have collapsed in a little more than five years. Some of the houses collapsing now once sat much further back on the beach.

Beachfront erosion issues aren't confined to North Carolina.

In Ocean City, New Jersey officials recently declared a local emergency related to the community's eroded beaches, in the hopes of obtaining money for a scheduled federal beach replenishment contract. Officials are also contending with erosion issues in Delaware, in Rhode Island and on Florida's east coast.

As both sea levels and the cost of replenishing beaches with sand rise, so do questions about how and whether oceanfront living can be sustained.

"We need to allow ourselves to consider slightly changing the map of our coastal communities, and concentrate our money and sand on areas that can be saved," Robert Young, director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University, recently told the Wilmington Star News.