GRAYLAND, Wash. - Erosion slowly ate away at the ground under a home near Grayland on the Washington coast, and on Tuesday too much ground finally gave way.
"We've been down here since about 9, waiting for it to go in," said Roger Durbin who lives in the area and has watched the sands move for years.
Around 12:25 p.m., the house, which had been standing on fragile land for days, collapsed and fell today's high tide gradually came in.
People from around "Washaway Beach" have seen homes fall into the ocean before, yet are drawn back again.
David Boden drove down from Westport to see the sight -- he says he's seen 10 or 12 houses drop down onto the beach to eventually be dashed to pieces by ocean waves and disappear.
Friends say the owners of the home said their goodbyes to the house last weekend. They couldn't stand to watch.
One resident who's been watching the advance of erosion said about thirty feet of land washed away just in 24 hours. A shower house fell in yesterday. Most of the homes in the area are vacation places, emptied out in preparation for when the ocean comes knocking.
This type of erosion has been happening here for more than a century. A lighthouse that stood for nearly 80 years was among the first structural victims back in 1940. At times Washaway Beach has lost 100 feet a year.
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