Buxton, United States - September 16, 2025 Video filmed by Brian Wharton shows a beachfront stilt house collapsed into the surf on the Outer Banks. The two-story, wood-shingled home at the north end of Hatteras Island fell Tuesday afternoon, strewing nail-studded debris across the sand. The house was unoccupied, said Mike Barber, a spokesman for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. “Seashore staff are out today, cleaning up the beach to the south of the collapse site,” Barber said. He said the homeowner has also hired a contractor to “work primarily near the house collapse site to remove the bulk of the remaining house structure and nearby debris associated with the collapse.” The collapse brings to 12 the number of houses the Atlantic Ocean has claimed in the past five years. The previous 11 home collapses since May 2020 all occurred in the tiny village of Rodanthe, the state's eastern-most point made famous by novelist Nicholas Sparks. During the state’s recent brush with Hurricane Erin, many locals were watching two beachfront houses there, but they survived the surf. The latest house was less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the famed Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which was moved 2,900 feet (884 meters) inland in 1999 to save it from erosion. Brian Wharton said: "I decided to look at the aftermath of this nor'easter (unnamed storm) that has been sitting off the coast for a few days. What a mess. These houses are right now on the edge."