The ocean claimed another home in Rodanthe early Friday morning. Debris littered the beach after the house collapsed.
The Cape Hatteras National Seashore said an unoccupied home on G A Kohler Court collapsed, sending potentially dangerous debris into the ocean.
"The biggest concern is just cleaning everything up," said Paul Troy, who owns a home nearby.
"We lose sleep over litter in the beach. You know, we've for two weeks now have just tried and tried to figure everything out and resolve it before it came to this," he said.
This is the eighth house collapse on Cape Hatteras National Seashore beaches within the last four years, and the third this year, park officials said.
Rodanthe is a small community of mostly vacation homes on a thin strip of land in North Carolina's Outer Banks. Sea level rise and erosion has forced some homes to be moved away from the water while others have collapsed.
"Cape Hatteras National Seashore urges visitors to avoid the beach near [the] unoccupied house collapse in Rodanthe," park officials said.
The beach will likely be closed temporarily for public safety. Another home in the area was damaged during the collapse.
Crews are expected to begin cleanup work Friday. The National Park Service staff may also remove debris. No injuries were reported in the collapse.