This reporting project was made possible by a grant from the Fund of the Fourth Estate.

Over the past few decades, many North Carolina beach houses have fallen victim to the Atlantic Ocean. Some were demolished by their owners. Others were destroyed in storms. And some have collapsed spectacularly – as seen in viral videos. This is not a new problem, but as climate change causes sea levels to rise, the search for solutions is becoming more urgent.

Residents watched on Friday/last week/August 16 as a two-story saltbox house on the beach in Rodanthe collapsed and was tossed back and forth in the waves like on a Video posted by Chicamacomico Banks Fire & RescueIt was the seventh house falling into the ocean near Cape Hatteras National Seashore over the past four years. Aerial photos show another dozen nearby that are at risk.

Dave Hallac, director of the National Park Service, said many of these homes were built decades ago – away from the ocean, behind a line of dunes. But the beach and dunes were washed away by Mother Nature.

“The erosion of our barrier islands over the past few decades has significantly reduced the distance between the Atlantic Ocean and the backyards of these homes, or even the homes themselves,” Hallac said.

Rodanthe has made the most headlines in recent years, but along the North Carolina coast, homes have been lost time and time again in storms or simply because of the approaching sea. Mayor Debbie Smith of Ocean Isle Beach said entire streets have been destroyed in recent decades.

“If you drive along the beach, you’ll see that First Street ends and Beach Street turns into Second Street, and then Second Street ends and Beach Street turns into Third Street. Originally, in the ’50s and early ’60s, First Street and Second Street ran all the way to the end,” Smith said.

A 2022 report by the state Coastal Resources Commission estimated that 750 of about 8,800 buildings along the North Carolina coast were at risk. Aerial photographs showed no dunes or vegetation between those buildings and the sea.

Scientists say barrier islands like these all along the East Coast are naturally eroding and shifting. Compounding the problem is that sea levels along the coasts of the Carolinas and Virginia have already risen 12 inches in the last century, and that rise is accelerating. U.S. government climate experts predict sea levels could rise another 12 inches by 2050.

“Erosion of three to four meters per year is not uncommon here. In other words, more than three meters of beach disappear into the Atlantic every year,” said Hallac.

Several factors lead to this erosion, according to coastal scientists Braxton Davis said.

“There can be the movement of sandbars and shoals offshore and the dynamics of inlets. All of those things play a role in determining the rate of erosion in a particular location. But the general trend is toward erosion and … you know, sea level rise is exacerbating all of those natural processes and natural coastal changes,” said Davis, who is executive director of the North Carolina Coastal Federation and previously headed the state’s Division of Coastal Management for more than a decade.

For the past two years, Davis and Hallac have led a state and federal task force studying threatened beach structures. A report is due Monday. Hallac said he will outline the problem and offer possible solutions — from financial assistance for property owners to changes in regulations and insurance rules.

“We’re going to be releasing a report with the state of North Carolina that’s just a list of ideas that we think can help move the problem forward. It’s not necessarily a panacea. Hopefully these ideas can be discussed further by government agencies and we can use them to develop other solutions.”

Pumping sand to rebuild beaches has become common practice in many coastal communities to protect both the public beach and threatened homes and buildings. But each time excavators and bulldozers are used, it costs tens of millions of dollars. And some officials worry that may not be sustainable. In Dare County, officials say they do not have the money to keep renewing Rodanthes Beach. That means many homes actually sit on the public beach — and are at risk of collapsing or causing other hazards that force a beach closure, Hallac said.

“They can pose a safety risk if parts of a deck or stairs fall off a home, or maybe even the whole home collapses,” Hallac said. “And then associated structures like septic tanks that treat the wastewater coming out of the home often rupture and can leak raw, untreated sewage into the environment. So there’s a potential public health risk as well.”

Some property owners have already taken the costly step of moving their homes. But vacant lots on or near the beach are rare and the task is expensive. Other homes have been destroyed. As part of a pilot project last year, the park service purchased and demolished two houses in Rodanthe that were in danger of collapsing. The money came from the Land and Water Conservation Fundwhich is financed by profits from offshore oil and gas leases.

Davis said we need a variety of potential solutions and funding.

“It can’t be a simple severance program. It’s not just about regulation in the sense of an agency coming in and saying it’s time to get rid of your house. There are insurance and legal implications that are quite complicated. So I think it really needs a holistic approach where you combine as many tools as possible,” he said.

Whatever the solution, moving the houses off the beach is the best long-term solution, says coastal geologist Rob Young, who heads the Built-Up Shoreline Research Program at Western Carolina University.

“Too often we look at coastal retreat and buyouts as the third rail of coastal management and nobody wants to talk about it. But it’s really time to talk about it. Because the idea that we can keep every single shoreline in place and protect every single piece of property is just absurd,” Young said.

As politicians try to come up with solutions in the coming years, Davis says we shouldn’t view property owners as villains.

“Many of these homes have been there for a very long time. They are a source of many family memories,” Davis said. “And some areas erode faster than others. Nature is very dynamic and storms can be quite unpredictable. We don’t always know exactly how quickly a building will be threatened. So to address this, we have to move away from the idea that this is going to be to the detriment of property owners.”

Davis says some of the report’s recommendations are already being tested, such as buyouts, but other policy changes and permanent funding may require further negotiations.

And the question remains where the money comes from. Representative Greg Murphy, who much of the North Carolina coast in Congress, filed a Bill in June This would allow funds from the National Flood Insurance Program to be used to finance the demolition or relocation of at-risk buildings – before they collapse.