Beachfront properties in North Carolina’s Outer Banks stand perilously close to collapsing, battered by the forceful waves of Hurricane Erin. Since the previous year, around a dozen homes in the vicinity have succumbed to the Atlantic Ocean.
Although the storm surges from hurricanes like Erin exacerbate the situation, the peril is never truly absent. The National Park Service, responsible for overseeing much of the region, identifies the very placement of these homes along the waterline as potentially hazardous.
Many of the residences along the Outer Banks beaches are erected on former landmasses, once thriving with dunes and dry sand. Currently, these areas are routinely submerged, either partially or entirely, by ocean water, according to the same agency.
Photographs reveal the precarious situation of the homes in Rodanthe, North Carolina. These houses, erected on elevated wooden beams, are surrounded by turbulent waters. High tides on Thursday morning resulted in water surges impacting the support beams, which, in some instances, appeared to be unstable and veering inwards.
Rodanthe, a community of approximately 200 residents, juts out further into the Atlantic Ocean than any other part of North Carolina. Experts agree that barrier islands like the Outer Banks are not ideal for construction. These islands typically form from sediment deposited off the mainland by waves, their positions influenced by weather patterns and oceanic forces, sometimes leading to their disappearance.
According to David Hallac, superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in the Outer Banks, in earlier decades, houses and other structures were smaller, simpler, and easier to relocate from the advancing surf. “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.”
A report in 2024, compiled by a consortium of federal, state, and local officials investigating threatened oceanfront structures in North Carolina, revealed that 750 of nearly 8,800 such structures in the state are considered at risk from erosion.
Hurricane Erin’s outer bands unleashed strong winds and waves on 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.
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Parts of the Outer Banks were encouraged to evacuate in anticipation of the storm. Some residents, like 96-year-old Carol Diller, chose to stay put. Diller, the owner of a motel for the past 70 years, expressed concern over the eroding shoreline’s impact on her property, bordered by a national park and unable to be rebuilt further inland. “We could wash away completely,” she noted.
Elsewhere on the East Coast, beaches were closed to swimming due to warnings of strong rip currents and turbulent seas. Nantucket Island in Massachusetts could see waves exceeding 10 feet.
This raises important questions about the future of these homes, many of which are at the mercy of the ever-encroaching waters. The importance of staying informed cannot be understated, especially as we anticipate future developments.
