Photos show how rising sea levels are washing away a small seaside town in North Carolina

James PasleyMar 24, 2023, 22:38 IST

Atlantic Ocean waves encroach upon a beachfront house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in January 2023.Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images

A town on North Carolina's Outer Banks made headlines last year when three homes collapsed into the sea.
Rodanthe has become a symbol of the devastating impact of rising seas.

In North Carolina, a beach town is in crisis.

As the sea rises, owners of beachfront homes in Rodanthe, North Carolina, are watching as their neighbors are washed away — and they're waiting to see if it happens to them, too.

Some owners are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to move their homes back, while others have no choice except to wait for their homes to collapse. What's happening in Rodanthe could be a precursor to what happens to other coastal towns in the US.

Here's why Rodanthe has become a symbol of how rising seas can impact real people.

On May 10, 2022, an unoccupied beachfront house in Rodanthe, North Carolina, collapsed into the sea.

A beach house that collapsed along North Carolina's Outer Banks on May 10, 2022.National Park Service/AP

The collapse was caught on video and went viral. It made national news. You don't often see houses falling into the sea and then bobbing in the waves.

It was the second house in Rodanthe to fall in a week and the third of the year.

A beach house that collapsed along North Carolina's Outer Banks on February 9, 2022.National Park Service/AP

Rodanthe is located on Hatteras Island off the coast of North Carolina. It is one of many beach towns along a 200-mile stretch of islands called the Outer Banks.

The Outer Banks of North Carolina in January 2023.Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images

The Outer Banks is open to the elements, and towns like Rodanthe often get damaged by storms.

National Park Service Ranger Jeff Goad views the destruction to North Carolina Hwy 12 on the north edge of Rodanthe in 2011.Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

Almost 40 years ago, Robert Dolan, a coastal geologist at the University of Virginia, pointed to the Outer Bank's unique position, leaving itself open to damaging, violent storms.

Waves caused by Hurricane Dorian land in front of a beach home on September 6, 2019 in Rodanthe, North Carolina.Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Almost 40 years ago, Robert Dolan, a coastal geologist at the University of Virginia, pointed to the Outer Bank's unique position, leaving itself open to damaging, violent storms.

Local photographer Michael Halminski told Yale Environment 360 an estimated 50 homes had collapsed into the sea since the 1970s.

Debris from a collapsed house is littered on a beach on Rodanthe, North Carolina on May 10, 2022.National Park Service/AP

This is a home named "Wave Breaker" being pummeled by waves in 2014.

A cottage named Wave Breaker is hit by waves in Rodanthe in 2014.Bruce Siceloff/Raleigh News & Observer/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

But things are getting worse. With rising sea levels and increasingly destructive storm surges, what was bad before has become more and more precarious.

Atlantic Ocean waves wash past houses to flood Seagull Street on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in December 2022.Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Rodanthe has become a symbol of the effects rising sea levels can have on people.

A surfer rides waves along the coast of Outer Banks in Rodanthe, North Carolina, in 2014.Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post/Getty Images

The National Park Service estimates Rodanthe loses 13 feet of sand each year, and some parts of the town have lost 200 feet since the early 2000s.

Outer Banks resident Natalie Swindell tries to keep her balance in the incoming surf in 2003 in Rodanthe.Chris Hondros/Getty Images

The sea is now at their doorstep.

Atlantic Ocean water pushes sand over the deck steps of a beachfront house on Seagull Street in December 2022.Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images

After three of Rodanthe's beachfront houses collapsed into the sea, Dare County stated last year another 11 houses faced the same danger. But the county can't do much about it.

Homes along the coast of Outer Banks in Rodanthe in 2014.Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post/Getty Images

After three of Rodanthe's beachfront houses collapsed into the sea, Dare County stated last year another 11 houses faced the same danger. But the county can't do much about it.

A group of locals — including full-time residents, vacationers, and retirees — are doing what they can. They recently got county commissioners to abandon Seagull Road, which runs behind the houses.

Water and sand cover Seagull Street in December 2022.Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images

A group of locals — including full-time residents, vacationers, and retirees — are doing what they can. They recently got county commissioners to abandon Seagull Road, which runs behind the houses.

Now, a few of these owners are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to move their homes back from the sea, knowing that it's likely to be a short-term solution.

A crew stabilizes a home after it was moved about 50 feet back from where it originally sat in December 2022.Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Gus Gusler, who owns a vacation home on Seagull Street, told The Washington Post it was their last stand. "We'll move as far back as we can get this time, and we're done. There's nothing we can do about it after this," he said.

Carroll Midgett Sr. and Gus Gusler discuss moving his house away from the rapidly eroding coastline on North Carolina’s Outer Banks in January 2023.Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Gus Gusler, who owns a vacation home on Seagull Street, told The Washington Post it was their last stand. "We'll move as far back as we can get this time, and we're done. There's nothing we can do about it after this," he said.

Jeff Munson had been visiting Rodanthe for almost 20 years before he bought a vacation home. He told The Post there used to be "three football fields" worth of beach between his house and the sea, but it's nearly all gone.

Atlantic Ocean waves wash against houses on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in January 2023.Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Jeff Munson had been visiting Rodanthe for almost 20 years before he bought a vacation home. He told The Post there used to be "three football fields" worth of beach between his house and the sea, but it's nearly all gone.

And some, like Ralph Patricelli, who purchased a property for $550,000 in 2021, or Hien Pham, who purchased another property in 2020 for $275,000, acted too late and already lost their homes to the sea.

Two beachfront homes sit over rough surf in Rodanthe in 2018.Steve Helber/AP

And some, like Ralph Patricelli, who purchased a property for $550,000 in 2021, or Hien Pham, who purchased another property in 2020 for $275,000, acted too late and already lost their homes to the sea.

But a homeowner's insurance policy won't pay for them to proactively tear down their house. It'll only pay once the house collapses. This means owners are more likely to wait for the sea to do the work.

A collapsed one-story house in Rodanthe in 2023.National Park Service/AP

But a homeowner's insurance policy won't pay for them to proactively tear down their house. It'll only pay once the house collapses. This means owners are more likely to wait for the sea to do the work.

There's no group or organization that's singularly responsible. According to the Island Free Press, blame can be directed all over — a lack of government action, loopholes in real estate rules, insufficient land zoning regulations, and of course, climate change.

A Rodanthe resident watches the sea in December 2022.Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images

There's no group or organization that's singularly responsible. According to the Island Free Press, blame can be directed all over — a lack of government action, loopholes in real estate rules, insufficient land zoning regulations, and of course, climate change.

There are temporary measures that can be taken, like beach nourishment, which is basically pumping beaches with sand. But it's expensive — too expensive for Rodanthe's taxpayers — and it doesn't last forever.

A state worker clears ocean-driven sand from Surfside Drive in Rodanthe in December 2022.Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images

There are temporary measures that can be taken, like beach nourishment, which is basically pumping beaches with sand. But it's expensive — too expensive for Rodanthe's taxpayers — and it doesn't last forever.

Dare County Commissioner Danny Couch told The Washington Post it's now a balancing act between acknowledging people's connections to a place against the fact that buying beachfront property is no longer always tenable.

A family plays on a beach in Rodanthe in July 2014.Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Dare County Commissioner Danny Couch told The Washington Post it's now a balancing act between acknowledging people's connections to a place against the fact that buying beachfront property is no longer always tenable.

"We cannot keep doing things the way that we've done this, with a structure there that's just waiting to be run over by the ocean," Couch said.

Dare County Commissioner Danny Couch stands on a recently cleared Ocean Drive on the Outer Banks in December 2022.Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images

What makes this situation more alarming is that developments keep happening. The Outer Banks is one of North Carolina's fastest-growing coastlines.

Beachfront houses on Seagull Street on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in December 2022.Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Coastal erosion across America already costs about $500 million each year in property loss alone. Yet people keep building and buying coastal properties.

Waves crash over the septic tank of a water-damaged house in Rodanthe in December 2022.Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Over the next 30 years, with sea levels expected to rise by another foot, it's likely that other towns will experience what Rodanthe is experiencing.

Water floods the roads in Rodanthe, North Carolina, after Hurricane Dorian hit the area on September 6, 2019.Mark Wilson/Getty Images

It's not clear how it's going to work or who's going to pay. But it's almost guaranteed that Rodanthe won't be the only town where owners are faced with an impossible decision — either let their home collapse into the sea or move them back and wait and see what happens.

A beachfront house is raised and moved away from the rapidly eroding shoreline in Rodanthe in December 2022.Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images

It's not clear how it's going to work or who's going to pay. But it's almost guaranteed that Rodanthe won't be the only town where owners are faced with an impossible decision — either let their home collapse into the sea or move them back and wait and see what happens.

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Photos show how rising sea levels are washing away a small seaside town in North Carolina

On May 10, 2022, an unoccupied beachfront house in Rodanthe, North Carolina, collapsed into the sea.

The collapse was caught on video and went viral. It made national news. You don't often see houses falling into the sea and then bobbing in the waves.

It was the second house in Rodanthe to fall in a week and the third of the year.

Rodanthe is located on Hatteras Island off the coast of North Carolina. It is one of many beach towns along a 200-mile stretch of islands called the Outer Banks.

The Outer Banks is open to the elements, and towns like Rodanthe often get damaged by storms.

Almost 40 years ago, Robert Dolan, a coastal geologist at the University of Virginia, pointed to the Outer Bank's unique position, leaving itself open to damaging, violent storms.

Local photographer Michael Halminski told Yale Environment 360 an estimated 50 homes had collapsed into the sea since the 1970s.

This is a home named "Wave Breaker" being pummeled by waves in 2014.

But things are getting worse. With rising sea levels and increasingly destructive storm surges, what was bad before has become more and more precarious.

Rodanthe has become a symbol of the effects rising sea levels can have on people.

The National Park Service estimates Rodanthe loses 13 feet of sand each year, and some parts of the town have lost 200 feet since the early 2000s.

The sea is now at their doorstep.

After three of Rodanthe's beachfront houses collapsed into the sea, Dare County stated last year another 11 houses faced the same danger. But the county can't do much about it.

A group of locals — including full-time residents, vacationers, and retirees — are doing what they can. They recently got county commissioners to abandon Seagull Road, which runs behind the houses.

Now, a few of these owners are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to move their homes back from the sea, knowing that it's likely to be a short-term solution.

Gus Gusler, who owns a vacation home on Seagull Street, told The Washington Post it was their last stand. "We'll move as far back as we can get this time, and we're done. There's nothing we can do about it after this," he said.

Jeff Munson had been visiting Rodanthe for almost 20 years before he bought a vacation home. He told The Post there used to be "three football fields" worth of beach between his house and the sea, but it's nearly all gone.

And some, like Ralph Patricelli, who purchased a property for $550,000 in 2021, or Hien Pham, who purchased another property in 2020 for $275,000, acted too late and already lost their homes to the sea.

But a homeowner's insurance policy won't pay for them to proactively tear down their house. It'll only pay once the house collapses. This means owners are more likely to wait for the sea to do the work.

There's no group or organization that's singularly responsible. According to the Island Free Press, blame can be directed all over — a lack of government action, loopholes in real estate rules, insufficient land zoning regulations, and of course, climate change.

There are temporary measures that can be taken, like beach nourishment, which is basically pumping beaches with sand. But it's expensive — too expensive for Rodanthe's taxpayers — and it doesn't last forever.

Dare County Commissioner Danny Couch told The Washington Post it's now a balancing act between acknowledging people's connections to a place against the fact that buying beachfront property is no longer always tenable.

"We cannot keep doing things the way that we've done this, with a structure there that's just waiting to be run over by the ocean," Couch said.

What makes this situation more alarming is that developments keep happening. The Outer Banks is one of North Carolina's fastest-growing coastlines.

Coastal erosion across America already costs about $500 million each year in property loss alone. Yet people keep building and buying coastal properties.

Over the next 30 years, with sea levels expected to rise by another foot, it's likely that other towns will experience what Rodanthe is experiencing.

It's not clear how it's going to work or who's going to pay. But it's almost guaranteed that Rodanthe won't be the only town where owners are faced with an impossible decision — either let their home collapse into the sea or move them back and wait and see what happens.