Climate change means more Outer Banks homes expected to fall into the ocean

As the climate continues to warm, environmental experts say that the threat to homes in Rodanthe is only going to increase.

"Sea level rise is likely to continue to make these problems worse and make it even more challenging to manage these coastal areas," said David Hallac, superintendent of the eastern North Carolina branch of the National Parks Service.

Hallac explains that even visitors are at-risk as the ocean sucks up homes along the shore. When these homes do collapse, wood structures and nails end up in the ocean and will eventually wash up on the shore.

"Public safety is probably our number one concern right now," he said. "The second concern of course is just the beauty of the seashore. Folks come to the seashore to see pristine, un-impacted beaches. And we hope to be able to provide that."

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Rising sea levels are adding public safety risks to beaches across the East Coast. For example, the United States Environmental Protection Agency reports "floods are now at least five times more common than they were in the 1950s" in major East Coast cities like Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and even Charleston and Wilmington.

Hallac said that conditions have been worsening for years due to the fact Dare County is on a barrier island, or a long sandy island parallel to the shore.

​​"Unfortunately that erosion process, which is a very natural process, it’s occurred over thousands of years, is causing these beaches to go away and the homes to be very vulnerable," he said. "Climate change and sea level rise only exacerbates that problem."

Most homes in the community are 30 to 50 years old, according to Dare County Commissioner Danny Couch. He said that eight of the 11 homes on one stretch of Ocean Drive have some sort of issue related to erosion "from outright condemnation to exposed septic tanks."

While Couch wants to take action, he says the Cape Hatteras beach is the nation's first national seashore, which means the issue is in the hands of the federal government.

"In terms of a local government entity, there’s not really anything we can do," he said. "[We are] entirely sympathetic, but our options are limited, very limited."

As of right now, Couch explains that there is little that homeowners are able to do except for demolishing or removing their homes, which can come at a hefty price.

"Right now there is no insurance program that will alleviate anything," he said.

One homeowner, who spoke to WRAL News on the condition of anonymity, said he bought a home in Rodanthe four months ago.

He claims that the revenue that his property brings in annually is plenty to pay a mortgage.

"The ocean was not like this last year," he said. "Yes, oceans are rising and all this other stuff but there’s this assumption that everybody who’s purchased homes on this street or anywhere else are high-stakes gamblers. Well that’s a false assumption."

The home he purchased was moved away from the oceanfront in 2018 and put on 16-feet tall pilings.

"This house isn't going anywhere, and neither am I," he said.