RODANTHE, N.C. — After a second house collapse this year in the Rodanthe community of North Carolina's Outer Banks, 13News Now has learned eight properties there are still deemed "unsafe for occupancy."
The eight other properties are mainly located on Kohler Court and East Ocean Drive.
A ninth property previously deemed "unsafe" had power restored Wednesday.
The latest house collapse on Corbina Drive marks the seventh property to fall in the Rodanthe area of Dare County since 2020, and the sixth since February of 2022.
The homeowners of the Corbina Drive property penned a letter to several state and regional leaders, including U.S. Congressman Greg Murphy. It's dated August 15, one day before the home's collapse on August 16. It acknowledges the ownership of the Corbina property, and seeks assistance "to mitigate the damage to the seashore through a reduced valuation acquisition."
It requests consideration of the National Park Service acquiring the home at a reduced value. Previously, the NPS had purchased two threatened oceanfront structures on East Beacon Road in Rodanthe. In 2023, the structures had been removed and the adjoining lots opened to the public.
With the collapse of the "Dolphin's Point" property, a single story home titled "Baby Blue" now sits adjacent to the oceanfront at the end of Corbina Drive.
Joe Indomenico, one of the co-owners of the property, spent the week pushing sand around the property to fortify the dunes that protect the stilts it sits on.
"We lost I don’t know how many feet of beach in the matter of a week and a half. Just gone," he said.
Indomenico remains optimistic that it will be a long time before his property is in danger of collapsing, based on how far back his house sits compared to "Dolphin's Point." He said they'll continue renting out the property and believes there are "more than a couple" vacation seasons ahead for the 'Baby Blue.'
"She ain't going nowhere," he said.