Houses Collapse in NC Ocean As Hurricanes Humberto, Imelda Get Really Weird

Of of seven houses that fell into the ocean at Buxton,
North Carolina floats in the surf generated by
Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda. The house in
the background collapsed soon afterwards, 
done in by the high surf and debris from the
houses that had already fallen. 

That weird pairing of Hurricanes Imelda and Humberto has stayed well offshore the United States, but that didn't prevent them from causing damage. 

Six homes collapsed into the powerful waves stirred up by the hurricanes in Buxton, North Carolina. That's on the vulnerable Outer Banks of coastal North Carolina.   

The storms remained hundreds of miles off the North Carolina coast, but hurricane waves can travel a thousand miles or more. 

Five of the homes collapsed Tuesday within 45 minutes of each other. A sixth collapsed later. 

All six were not occupied because they had been declared uninhabitable after they were damaged from waves in August. Those waves were generated by offshore hurricane Erin. 

Last night, a seventh home collapsed into the waves on the Buxton shore.

The seven homes lost to the ocean brings the total that collapsed into the waves to 19 in Buxton and Rodanthe, North Carolina in the last five years.

As of this morning, Hurricane Imelda and now-former hurricane Humberto were still stirring up big waves and surf up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Local officials in North Carolina said more beach houses might collapse into the water. 

Part but certainly not all of the problem is climate change. Sea levels are rising, so waves during storms can extend further inland. 

Also, land overall in eastern North Carolina is sinking, too. The North Carolina Outer Banks are skinny barrier islands which have also always shifted and moved over time. 

It's probably not a good idea to build on unstable barrier islands, with or without climate change. 

This week, the waves hitting the Outer Banks were especially powerful, thanks to the dual efforts of Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda, far offshore. 

Hurricane Imelda hit Bermuda early this morning with strong winds. I don't have early reports of the outcome, but Bermuda is among the most hurricane-proof islands in the world. 

STRANGE INTERACTION

Schematic showing the wind flow around Hurricanes
Humberto and Imelda a couple days ago. They
were close enough to create one big wind
field.  You can see the calm eyes (blue shading,
indicating lighter winds). Also, halfway between 
the storms, the two circulations canceled each
other out, creating another small pocket
of light winds. 

I've been telling you in the past week about how Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda have interacted with one another, since they have been oddly close to one another. 

Humberto was initially the more powerful storm and had dominance over Imelda. 

Humberto, being the bigger, macho one, pulled Imelda away from the southeast U.S. coast, sparing the Carolinas a much bigger disaster.

Though each hurricane had its own internal core circulation, their close proximity created an even larger overall circulation, with an odd calm spot in the ocean halfway between the two storms.  

Then a funny thing then happened. Imelda grew stronger and became the dominate storm. The dance between the two hurricanes ended with Imelda shoving Humberto northward into a cold front, which turned Humberto into a regular, non-tropical, albeit still strong storm. 

The move left room for Imelda to strengthen further, enabling it to blast into Bermuda last night. 

The experience turned Humberto transsexual, in a way. Now that it's a non-tropical storm, Humberto is a powerful storm in the Atlantic, complete with a warm front and a stormy cold front and lots of dangerous winds. The UK Met Office has renamed it Amy. 

Storm Amy is expected to create widespread wind gusts in the 60 to 70 mph across Scotland and northern England. Some parts of northwest Scotland could see gusts to 95 mph. 

Now that Imelda is past Bermuda, it, too, has just transitioned to a non-tropical storm as of early this afternoon. It will sort of follow Humberto Amy into the North Atlantic, but it remains to be seen whether former Imelda will affect the British Isles.    

Now that Humberto and Imelda are out of our hair, the National Hurricane Center is watching two new areas. 

A disturbance not far from Miami is forecast  to move northwestward across Florida. There's a low chance it could become a weak tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico in a few days. Whatever happens, large parts of Florida should expect heavy rain over the next 

Forecasters are also watching another weather disturbance emerging off the west coast of Africa. It, too could develop into a tropical storm next week. 

VIDEO:

Video shows collapse of homes and lots of debris as five homes collapse into the waves in Buxton, North Carolina on Camp Hatteras.  Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that.