Dramatic footage surfaces of home swept into the Atlantic Ocean

This is the frightening moment a house collapses into the Atlantic Ocean and floats away.

The timber home was swept out to sea following an intense tropical storm that developed into a hurricane, battering the US east coast after lashing Bermuda.

Hurricane Ernesto has devastated the residents of Rodanthe in North Carolina. It is one of several communities not just in the US but also in Bermuda and the Canadian province of Newfoundland who are in danger. Authorities have warned that Ernesto has churned life-threatening rips and swells.

In Rodanthe, a town of 213 people, seven houses have been inundated and washed out to sea due to weather events in the past four years.

The footage of the house bobbing in the waves is one of the most shocking of the Ernesto ordeal, which has prompted US emergency services to plead with residents and stickybeaks to stay away.

Detritus litters the sand. Among the wreckage, other homes along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore hang on, under constant threat from wild waves. They stand high on pilings – a signature of Rodanthe homes.

Chicamacomico Fire and Rescue, who looks after the Rodanthe community, has shared photos and video to its Facebook page.

Onlookers can be heard screaming and crying “oh my god”, as the house bobs past, buoyed by a menacing swell.

“Another house has collapsed due to the swell from Ernesto,” Chicamacomico Fire and Rescue posted. “Please do not enter the ocean as the debris will be washing around for the next few days. Cleanup efforts will be announced by park services.”

Rodanthe is in Dare County and, along with the towns of Waves and Salvo, is part of the Chicamacomico settlement.

Rodanthe is known in pop culture as the location of a romantic movie Nights in Rodanthe, starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane. One of the properties on pilings on the waterfront was featured in the 2018 film and is understood to be intact.