As beach disappears, house collapses into ocean on Oahu’s North Shore

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - State crews are trying to stop more debris from being washed out to sea after a house collapsed into the ocean on Oahu’s North Shore early Monday.

The house is located along the shoreline on Ke Nui Road, not too far away from Sunset Beach.

According to Jim Ireland, director of Honolulu’s Emergency Services Department, the call came in around 1 a.m. after residents reported hearing a crashing sound.

Several state and city agencies responded.

HPD said no injuries have been reported. It’s not clear what caused the house to collapse.

In the wake of this incident, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi in a press conference said the city would look into shoreline management and increased regulations to prevent this from happening again.

“I think we have to be in favor regrettably of what’s happening in the world, and I say regrettably because climate change is real, sea level rise is definitely real,” Blangiardi said.

Ireland added, “This has happened before. Unfortunately, it’ll probably happen again.”

Land and Natural Resources Chair Suzanne Case called the situation “a long time coming.”

“We knew it was going to happen eventually. It’s a dangerous situation, as debris is falling into the ocean,” she said, in a news release.

“This is sad ... climate change, sea level rise, and wave energy in new powerful patterns. This is a beach that’s important to everyone. The houses are built on sand berms and there’s just no way they can last long-term. We continue to encourage the homeowners here to seek other alternatives.”

This story will be updated.

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