Experts warn of unstoppable force swallowing homes along the coast: 'They have no incentive to remove that house'
The Outer Banks of North Carolina offer some of the greatest oceanfront property in the United States, but erosion is wiping out homes one by one.
Since May 2020, 11 houses in Rodanthe on Hatteras Island have collapsed into the Atlantic, the Island Free Press reported.
In a video by Dare County, titled Erosion in Rodanthe: The Fight to Protect the Outer Banks, officials detail the problem and potential solutions.
"The beach in Rodanthe, while it was eroding, it was relatively stable, and it was wide," Dare County manager Bobby Outten said. "It isn't until recent years that the erosion rate there seemed to have increased rapidly."
Historically, houses have collapsed because of significant storms. But that is not what happened to all 10 of the homes that were washed away over the last four years. As many as 20 more could be gone in the next two years.
The video notes that the Rodanthe beach is eroding by over 10 feet annually and that Highway 12, the only road linking towns along the Outer Banks, is also at risk.
The destruction of these homes creates hazards for people and wildlife as far away as 20 miles and pollutes the environment with debris. Homeowners have been unwilling to relocate their homes because of a lack of options and the cost; they also prefer to collect flood insurance money after their houses have collapsed and pay for the cleanup instead of tearing them down proactively, according to the video.
"They have no incentive to remove that house," Outten said.
Government officials have looked into beach nourishment projects, which have been successful on beaches to the north, but Outten said the $40 million price tag from three years ago was prohibitive.
The National Park Service via a pilot program bought out two homeowners and removed those houses before they dangerously collapsed, and there were others interested, WUNC reported in 2023.
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"We were able to acquire those structures and demolish them and completely restore the beach area approximately a year ago," National Parks of Eastern North Carolina Superintendent Dave Hallac said in the Dare County video. "And now when you go out to those locations, you have no idea there was ever a house there; there's a beautiful, pristine, open beach; and all of the impacts that were occurring there before have been eliminated."
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