The Atlantic Ocean has claimed another beach house on the fragile Outer Banks. The home that collapsed Tuesday afternoon in Buxton, North Carolina, is the 12th to succumb to the surf since May 2020. An official with the Cape Hatteras National Seashore says the house was unoccupied. The other 11 were all in the village of Rodanthe, a few miles north. The barrier islands have been eroding amid sea level rise for years. The famed Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was moved inland in 1999.

Mario, a storm system swirling off Mexico's Pacific coast, has once again become a tropical storm. There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect. That is according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. At noon ET, the storm center was located about 305 miles south of the southern tip of the Mexican state of Baja California. Maximum sustained winds were clocked at 40 mph and moving west-northwest at 8 mph. Forecasters expect the storm to weaken on Tuesday. Mario first gained tropical storm strength Friday before weakening into a tropical depression just hours later.

Forecasters say the risk of direct impacts from Hurricane Kiko has decreased. Kiko showed signs Monday that it would pass to the north of the Hawaiian Islands. The system weakened to a Category 1 hurricane and is expected to lose more intensity throughout the day. The National Hurricane Center says maximum sustained winds are around 85 mph. The hurricane was centered roughly 410 miles east of Hilo, Hawaii. It was traveling west-northwest at 15 mph. Kiko could still send large swells to eastern-facing shores in the island chain. Forecasters warn of possible life-threatening surf and rip currents.

Forecasters say Hurricane Kiko is weakening as it continues on a track forecast to take the storm north of the Hawaiian islands in coming days. Kiko was located Sunday about 635 miles east of Hilo on the Big Island in the Pacific. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Kiko has top sustained winds of 110 mph, down from about 120 mph on Saturday. The center says the hurricane should pass north of the islands sometime Tuesday and Wednesday. No coastal watches or warnings are in effect, but forecasters say Kiko is starting to churn up dangerous surf, particularly along eastern-facing Hawaiian beaches.

The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Kiko is now a Category 4 storm in the Pacific. Forecasters say Kiko's top sustained winds were clocked at 130 mph on Wednesday. The hurricane is centered about 1,600 miles east of Hilo, Hawaii and is traveling westward at 9 mph. Forecasters say Kiko could get even stronger in the next day or so, but its intensity was likely to fluctuate after that. There are no watches or warnings associated with Kiko and no hazards affecting land. The hurricane is churning ovre the Pacific at the same time as Hurricane Lorena is gearing up to lash the coast of Mexico's Baja California.

President-elect Donald Trump says he won't rule out the use of military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland as he declared U.S. control of both to be vital to American national security. Speaking to reporters less than two weeks before he takes office on Jan. 20 and as a delegation of aides and advisers that includes his son Donald Trump Jr. is in Greenland, Trump left open the use of the American military to secure both territories. Trump has floated having Canada join the United States. The Republican said Tuesday he would not use military force to do that, saying, he would rely on “economic force.”