Severe coastal erosion has plagued the Outer Banks for years, but a recent surge continued on Tuesday morning and afternoon in Buxton Beach, North Carolina. An official tally updated by the National Parks Service (NPS) shows that four houses in the small Outer Banks beach town fell between 10:45 am and 1 pm. A fifth house collapsed in the surf at approximately 4 pm local time, bringing the total number of homes lost to coastal erosion in the area since 2020 to 27. The recent shocking surge has seen 15 of those since September 16, 2025.
The last time several houses fell in such a short period of time was just one month ago on September 30, when five Outer Banks homes collapsed in one 45-minute window, according to Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
Brett Barley, who grew up in the area, has been vocal about the devastation in his hometown. Barley shared footage of the destroyed homes on two separate occasions on Tuesday, with one post, in particular, accompanying his personal feelings about watching such a drastic transformation firsthand.
“As I stood at the end of Cottage Ave. this evening with (photographer) Daniel Pullen neither one of us could wrap our heads around what we were looking at, or had just witnessed this afternoon,” he said. “Both of us having grown up our whole lives running every dune of this area chasing waves & beach days, and Daniel actually spending years living on Cottage Ave., it’s hard to witness the ends of these roads just laid bare. Not just the front line of houses, but now homes that were two back, and three back from the ocean are gone or at water’s edge. Not just rental houses at stake, but now main dwellings of locals, or houses of family friends… it’s heartbreaking to see, and a lot to take in and process.”
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