Wash Post — North Carolina beach houses have fallen into the ocean. Is there a fix?

Waves erode the beach behind houses on Seagull Street in Rodanthe, N.C. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

May 15, 2023

By Brady Dennis — New studies show that both beach nourishments and buyouts in Rodanthe, N.C., would be costly. But no funding for any fix is in sight.

It’s been a rough stretch for Rodanthe, N.C., a scenic sliver of the Outer Banks where houses are crumbling into the ocean, owners are paying to move properties farther from the pounding surf and residents are pushing officials to do more to protect the fast-eroding shoreline.

At a town meeting early this year, Dare County’s manager, Bobby Outten, explained that the local government couldn’t begin to fund the type of extensive beach nourishment that would buy Rodanthe more time from the encroaching sea. But he did promise to undertake an engineering assessment so residents would know just how much it might cost to dredge offshore sediment and add a new expanse of beach.

In recent days, the county published those figures in a 35-page report, and they underscore the unenviable predicament facing Rodanthe — a quandary that scientists say other imperiled communities like it are sure to confront as seas rise and storms intensify.

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