The Atlantic Ocean is eating houses on the barrier islands of coastal North Carolina. 

Just shy of 4,000 miles long, the state’s coast includes 18 barrier islands, which are stretches of land separated from the mainland. 

However, as the world faces the far-reaching effects of climate change, these coasts, and the homes built on them, are paying the price. Coastal erosion can be caused by sea level rise, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Sea level rise is caused by the melting of major ice sheets or glaciers due to rising global temperatures, as well as the expansion of the water molecules as the water warms. NASA predicts that the average global sea level could rise up to 12 inches from current levels by 2050.

The CoastalReview.org, a nonprofit news organization that focuses on coastal North Carolina, has spent time covering the state’s rapid coastal erosion. 

“I’ve heard stories about the collapsing houses… a decade ago we were just talking about them being a hazard on the public beach, or that the ocean was encroaching and they were in danger of becoming imperiled…we are seeing the completion of that chapter now,” Mark Hibbs, the editor of CoastalReview.org, said. 

Ten houses have fallen into the ocean in the Outer Banks since 2020, many of them in the community of Rodanthe, according to the Washington Post. Rodanthe is one of the northernmost barrier islands and is experiencing skyrocketing erosion rates.

Journalist Catherine Kozak has written many stories for Coastal Review focusing on this topic. She lives in the Outer Banks and was dealing with flooding in her home the week her interview with the Old Gold & Black was conducted.

Many homeowners have been criticized on social media for purchasing homes so close to the ocean.

“It is a very severe situation, as many people are leasing their oceanfront homes […],” Kozak said. “I interviewed a lot of these shocked people and found they were acting defensive after reading the nasty remarks online. They acted this way [even] before they received hate and blame online saying it’s ‘their fault’ for choosing to live on the coast.” 

Although it’s easy to criticize residents’ choice to buy a home so close to the beach, the story isn’t quite as black and white as it may seem. When these individuals bought their homes, there was at least a football field’s worth of sand between their front door and the ocean.

According to USA Today, debris from one Outer Banks home floated up to 20 miles south of where it collapsed. In response to the collapse, state park officials warned beachgoers of the abrasive debris, such as rusty nails and wood planks, bobbing in the waves and littering the sand.

Farther south, Wilmington, N.C. has endured record-breaking floods.

Wake Forest University senior Grace Benfield lives on Berwyn Road in Wilmington. On Sept. 16, her neighborhood experienced the most flooding since Hurricane Florence in September 2018.

“Florence was the last big hurricane that hit Wilmington, and this one flooded my neighborhood to the point where there were eels in the road,” Benfield said. 

According to the NOAA sea level rise viewer, Benfield’s neighborhood is in the medium vulnerability category. She lives about a mile from the coast but acknowledged that, in the past few years, flooding in their neighborhood has been inconvenient.  

Many local governments utilize beach nourishment plans in response to falling houses and flooded neighborhoods. This is when sand is added to the broken shoreline to try to counteract coastal erosion. The sand typically comes from a sandbar, inlet, waterway or an offshore borrow site. The aim is that the newly expanded beach will act to protect the coast from powerful winds and tides. 

However, this is not a lasting solution. 

“We are fighting a losing battle by putting sand on beaches because the barrier islands are by their very nature rolling over constantly,” Hibbs said. 

In the case of Rodanthe, there are no beach nourishment projects. They would be extremely costly, and due to the high levels of coastal erosion, it is seemingly pointless. 

Beach nourishment can also alter the shore’s ecosystem.

“I remember the first beach treatment project at Atlantic Beach and how it changed the whole ecology of the beach,” Hibbs said. “Before [the project], the little bivalves were everywhere, and with every wave that washed in you would see them burrow down into the sand … [but] after they did the first beach nourishment you no longer saw them. It changed the beach.” 

Nourishment is not meant to be the final answer, according to Explore Beaches, at the University of California, Santa Barbara. A more permanent solution is needed to solve the problems of rising sea levels, raging waves and high-speed winds that are contributing to the erosion of sand supporting the houses. 

“Water will always find a way,” Hibbs said.