Wash Post — He bought the house 9 months ago. Then the ocean swept it away.

A flooded street in Pensacola, Fla., as Hurricane Sally made landfall last year. (Gerald Herbert/AP)

May 13, 2022

By Brady Dennis — Buyers, many from out of state, continue to gobble up oceanfront real estate where three homes have collapsed this year along N.C.’s Outer Banks. Scientists and government officials say climate change is likely to continue to exacerbate erosion.

Ralph Patricelli had grand plans for the vacation home at 24235 Ocean Drive in Rodanthe, on a spit of land in the middle of North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

He and his sister purchased the four-bedroom waterfront home in August for $550,000. With its airy rooms, two levels of decks and stunning Atlantic views, Patricelli envisioned it as an ideal spot to welcome friends and family after two years of an isolating pandemic. After the season’s last renters departed, he and his relatives had planned to host a Thanksgiving gathering in the home.

Instead, Patricelli never spent a night there.

A November storm affected the septic system, he said, and county officials soon deemed the house unfit to occupy. On Tuesday, less than 300 days after he bought it, the house became one of two along Ocean Drive to collapse into the sea after days of battering from an unnamed coastal storm.

“I was so looking forward to having a place where I could entertain and be back to normal,” Patricelli, a 57-year-old real estate agent in California who grew up on the East Coast, said in an interview.

“I didn’t realize how vulnerable it was,” he added.

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