Hurricane Swell Gobbles Homes on East Coast (Video)

Originally posted on SURFER | By Dashel Pierson | Last updated Sep 13, 2025 3:19 PM ET

It’s one thing to watch a hurricane, or a natural disaster of any kind, from the safety of a screen; but it’s a much different to experience it on-the-ground, in your home.

For North Carolina’s Brett Barley, the latter was the scenario with the recent Hurricane Erin. Barley is a North Carolina native, an Outer Banks local, and a perennial standout surfer from his home state, and whenever he travels abroad.

As such, he’s well-versed in hurricanes. He’s seen them his entire life. And so, in his latest vlog, he takes us inside what Erin was like, the damage it caused, the massive waves it brought, and comparing it to past storms. Check it out below.

In a disclaimer explaining the safety precautions he took in making this video, Barley gives a little insight into what hurricane life is like on the Outer Banks:

“Yeah, we got worked. I live on a barrier island, mostly made of sand. This is part of life here. It wasn’t always this way. There are lots of reasons why we’re at the place we’re at now. Partially because North Carolina is the only state on the coast that has a ban on hardened structures, so we can’t build jetties or groins or anything else that might sure up sand…like anywhere else on the coast. Also, Cape Hatteras – specifically Buxton – has only had two beach nourishment projects in the last 50 years. So, the entire East Coast would look like the Outer Banks does if they were forced to do what we’re forced to do.”

The full-length vlog is filled with both dramatic footage, yet also careful commentary. Barley doesn’t sensationalize the storm – rather, he documents it honestly. And this is home for him. This is his reality. He also points out that, despite the storms and changing environmental conditions, he still plans to stick around.

“This place is wild, it’s fragile,” Barley adds. “It always has been. So, if you live here, it’s just one of the things that you accept. The beauty of this place is worth enduring all of those storms. I’m never going anywhere.”

This article first appeared on SURFER and was syndicated with permission.

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