Winterhold was destroyed by torrential tidal waves. I could easily see something like that picking up and carrying away most of the debris. Do we have any info about its layout pre-Collapse? Perhaps the city itself was up closer to/surrounding the College, and the shacks that are there are on an outlying area of the original city.
Something that intrigues me is... if it wasn't the College's fault, what could create a constant barrage of tidal waves of that magnitude? It's too long after Red Year and too localized (neither Solitude or Dawnstar complained about the tidal waves, AFAIK).
Something that intrigues me is... if it wasn't the College's fault, what could create a constant barrage of tidal waves of that magnitude? It's too long after Red Year and too localized (neither Solitude or Dawnstar complained about the tidal waves, AFAIK).