BUXTON, N.C. (WAVY) — With a coastal flood warning in effect for Ocracoke and Hatteras islands from Saturday afternoon through Monday morning, the weekend of expected rain, wind and coastal flooding has residents in Buxton, where eight homes recently collapsed into the ocean, concerned about what more could happen to its already battered shoreline.
Barry Crum of Crum Works Inc. spent his Friday evening in Buxton preparing vulnerable homes near the ocean.
“We’ve been putting in new piling foundation, so we’re driving 8-inch wooden piles, 12 feet down to dense sand, trying to stabilize the house,” Crum said.
His construction company has also been adding sand around homes in the area for extra reinforcement as they work to strengthen the shoreline in hopes of preventing more homes from collapsing. Locals, however, believe more homes could succumb to the ocean.
“We’ve got a super fragile beach, and just the slightest surf here can cause a lot of damage [and] bring a house down or two, so it’s wait-and-see, but the rest of the island is open business as usual,” said Buxton resident Don Bowers.
Many are bracing for impact, hoping the area fares well.
“All of our money is from tourists,” Crum said. “There’s people [who] come and clean these homes, there’s people that work on these homes, they do construction, renovations, touching them up, so [when one falls], that money is gone.”
Said Bowers: “Talk to us in a couple of days, we’ll see what happens,” Bowers said.