HARBOR ISLAND — Following years of litigation, a state circuit court judge has ordered the final derelict home to be removed from this small Beaufort County barrier island, where erosion has threatened the structure since 2016.

Hurricane Matthew turned what has been the steady creep of erosion into a crisis on Harbor Island, located just east of St. Helena Island. The storm left six homes uninhabitable and the shoreline eroding to the point that the foundations are underwater at high tide. Starting in 2018, the situation set off a flurry of lawsuits between the homeowners, the state, the Harbor Island Owners’ Association and insurance companies.

The state was dismissed from the lawsuit in 2019, but the legal battle between the HOA and homeowners continued. Since then, five of the six houses originally involved in the lawsuit have been torn down or moved inland. One remains, and Judge Robert Bonds signed an order for its removal in February.