Two beachfront homes in North Carolina’s Outer Banks appear to be on the verge of collapse as they are pounded by strong waves from Hurricane Erin. Nearly a dozen neighboring homes have fallen into the Atlantic Ocean since 2020.
While the swells from storms like Erin make things worse, the conditions threatening the houses are always present. The placement of the homes along the water puts them at risk, according to the National Park Service, which oversees much of the area.
Many of the homes along the beaches of the Outer Banks are on properties once filled with land, dunes and dry sand that are now partially or fully covered with ocean water “on a regular basis,” the agency says.
Photos show teetering homes
Photos show the Rodanthe, North Carolina, homes on elevated wooden support beams, with water churning beneath them. High tides were sending surges of water into the support beams on Thursday morning. In one image, the beams appear to be unsteady and bending inwards.
Rodanthe, home to about 200 people, sticks out further into the Atlantic Ocean than any other part of North Carolina. Barrier islands like the Outer Banks were never an ideal place for development, according to experts. The islands typically form as waves deposit sediment off the mainland. And they move based on weather patterns and other ocean forces. Some even disappear.
Decades ago, houses and other buildings were smaller, less elaborate and easier to move from the encroaching surf, said David Hallac, superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in the Outer Banks.
“Perhaps it was more well understood in the past that the barrier island was dynamic, that it was moving,” Hallac said. “And if you built something on the beachfront it may not be there forever or it may need to be moved.”
At least 11 other houses have toppled into the surf in Rodanthe in the past five years, according to the National Park Service. In September 2024, three houses collapsed in just one week. Rising water levels mean more structures are always at risk: Some places along the Outer Banks lose up to 10 to 15 feet of beachfront a year, Hallac said.
“All of a sudden, the foreshore, that area between low water and high water, is right up next to somebody’s backyard. And then the erosion continues,” he said.
A 2024 report from a group of federal, state and local officials studying threatened oceanfront structures in North Carolina found that 750 of nearly 8,800 such structures in the state are considered at risk from erosion.
Hurricane Erin’s impact
Hurricane Erin’s outer bands brought strong winds and waves to the Outer Banks and other parts of the East Coast on Thursday. Forecasters have warned that large waves could likely cause significant beach erosion and temporarily block some roads.
Parts of the Outer Banks were urged to evacuate ahead of the large storm. Carol Diller, 96, stayed behind — but told CBS News she fears the impact of the eroding shoreline on the motel she has owned for 70 years. The buildings are up against a national park and can’t be rebuilt any further back, she said.
“We could wash away completely,” she said.
Elsewhere on the East Coast, beaches were closed to swimming amid warnings of strong rip currents and rough seas. Massachusetts‘ Nantucket Island could see waves of more than 10 feet.
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