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WATCH | The moment a R4.5 million US home on stilts is swept away by the sea

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The house at 24265 Ocean Dr, Rodanthe, NC being swept away by the waves.

A video circulating on Twitter captured the dramatic moment powerful ocean waves swept a North Carolina beach house into the ocean.

In the video, the base of the house's stilts can be seen partially submerged in the water as strong tides continue to pummel the structure. Within seconds of being filmed, the stilts give way, and the house falls into the ocean, bobbing up and down with the tide.

The house was located along the coast in Outer Banks, Rodanthe, and was unoccupied at the point of collapse, US National Park Service officials at Cape Hatteras said.

The video, uploaded by the Cape Hatteras National Seashore's official Twitter account, has over 10 million views.   

Perhaps beachfront houses aren't as great as they seem.

Twitter users are also expressing outrage that such homes are allowed to be sold given the safety and environmental risks they face.

The home was last sold in November 2020 for $275,000, the equivalent of some R4.5 million.

The Ocean Drive home was the second oceanfront Rodanthe home to collapse this week. However, this has been an ongoing concern since as early as 2020.

After another similar incident in February that left debris all along the coast, a meeting hosted by the National Park Service and county officials noted that 11 other homes in the area are at risk of the same fate.

Erosion is the main reason why these houses are falling. Between 1998 to 2019, the beach eroded by 282 feet along the area where the homes collapsed, Michael Flynn, a physical scientist with the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, told WTKR News 3.

Officials are also encouraging and working with homeowners who are at risk to relocate or remove the homes before further incidents occur.

"We proactively reached out to homeowners along Ocean Drive in Rodanthe after the first house collapse and recommended that actions be taken to prevent collapse and impacts to Cape Hatteras National Seashore," David Hallac, a superintendent at National Parks of Eastern North Carolina, said in a statement released on May 10. 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Zillow did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.