10 houses collapsed into the surf of Carolina. Their destruction was planned decades ago

NORFOLK, Virginia (AP) — In the coastal village of Rodanthe, North Carolina, a disaster is unfolding in slow motion: Ten houses have collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean there since 2020. Three houses have been lost since Friday.

The latest collapse occurred Tuesday afternoon when the wooden pilings of a house nicknamed “Front Row Seats” gave way in the surf. The building slammed into another house before rocking in the waves, prompting the now-familiar warnings of splintered wood and nail-ridden debris.

The destruction had been decades in the making, as beach erosion and climate change slowly pushed the Atlantic Ocean closer to the homes of this remote resort town. The threat is more insidious than a hurricane, and the potential solutions won’t be easy or cheap in Rodanthe or anywhere else in the United States.

Barrier islands are not ideal for building

Rodanthe is a village of about 200 residents on the Outer Banks, a strip of narrow barrier islands which extend into the Atlantic like a bent arm.

Barrier islands were never an ideal place for developmentmy experts. They typically form when waves deposit sediment from the mainland. And they move depending on weather conditions and other ocean forces. Some even disappear.

David Hallac, director of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, where Rodanthe is located, said in past decades it was more common for homeowners to protect their homes from approaching surf.

“Perhaps people previously realized that the barrier island was dynamic, that it was moving,” Hallac said. “And if you built something on the beach, it might not stay there forever or it might have to be moved.”

The beach is eroding quickly

Rodanthe is one of many communities on Hatteras Island, which is about 50 miles long and whose beach has suffered from erosion for decades.

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was 1,500 feet from the ocean when it was built in 1870, Hallac said. In 1919, the Atlantic Ocean was 300 feet away. The lighthouse was later moved to a more sheltered location.

Erosion of 3 to 4.5 meters per year has been measured, in some places even more.

“And so every year, three to five meters of white sand beach disappears,” Hallac said. “And then the dunes, and then the dune ridge. And then suddenly the foreshore, that area between low tide and high tide, is right next to someone’s backyard. And then the erosion continues.”

“Like a toothpick in wet sand”

Eventually, the ocean waves splash against the wooden posts that support the beach houses. The posts can be up to five meters deep. But the surf slowly washes away the sand that has accumulated around them.

“It’s like a toothpick in wet sand, or even a beach umbrella,” Hallac said. “The deeper you stick it in, the more likely it is to stand upright and not tip over. But if you stick it in just a few inches, it doesn’t take much wind for the umbrella to start to tip. And it starts to tip over.”

The collapse of a single house can spread debris up to 24 kilometers along the coast. According to a report from August by a group of federal, state and local officials investigating threatened beach buildings in North Carolina. Collapses can injure beachgoers and lead to possible septic tank contamination, among other environmental problems.

Collapsed houses probably corresponded to the

Rules for coastal development in North Carolina have been in place since the 1970s, before many of the collapsed homes were rebuilt and there was much more beach, says Noah Gillam, planning director for Dare County.

“At the time they were built, they probably met all the distancing requirements,” Gillam said. “And in many cases they were hundreds of meters from the dune line, not to mention the sea.”

Since then, erosion has accelerated, swallowing up entire stretches of sand. Storms have also become more frequent and violent, devastating the coasts of a community that is highly exposed to the ocean.

“This is a national problem”

Meanwhile, officials and experts have focused on solutions, or at least ways to solve the problem. Report on threatened seaside houses found that 750 of the nearly 8,800 shoreline structures in North Carolina are considered at risk of erosion.

Possible solutions include bringing dredged material to eroding beaches, something already being done in other communities on the Outer Banks and East Coast. But in Rodanthe, that could cost $40 million or more and would be a major financial challenge for the small tax base, says Gillam of Dare County.

Other ideas include buying up threatened properties, relocating them or demolishing them. But these options are also very expensive. And resources are limited.

Republican U.S. Representative Greg Murphy from North Carolina recently introduced a bill in Congress This would free up some money. For example, the bill would provide federal funds from flood insurance to help demolish or relocate erosion-stricken homes before they collapse.

Braxton Davis, executive director of the nonprofit North Carolina Coastal Federation, said the problem is not limited to Rodanthe or even North Carolina. He pointed to erosion problems along the California coast, the Great Lakes and some of the country’s rivers.

“This is a national problem,” Davis said, adding that sea levels are rising and “the situation is only going to get worse.”