r/interestingasfuck • u/Endolithic • Jun 06 '25

Homes are falling into the ocean in North Carolina's Outer Banks /r/all

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u/mfb1274 Jun 06 '25

Why? Did the tide never come in this far and now it is?

84

u/kniki217 Jun 06 '25

These houses used to be rows back. Natural beach erosion over many years took out the houses, roads, and beach in front of them. These are barrier islands that naturally change over time. Nature gives and nature takes.

23

u/mfb1274 Jun 06 '25

Interesting, now I’m curious when they built these did they know this was going to happen? Like they knew they were lighting a fuse that would eventually go off?

26

u/avantgardengnome Jun 06 '25

There’s barrier islands all over the eastern seaboard that have been developed to hell; all of the Outer Banks are barrier islands, so is Long Beach Island in New Jersey, etc. All expensive areas in very high demand. Barrier islands are nature’s way to protect the coastline from flooding, erosion and storm swell. But people love beachfront property.

I believe a lot of the development really ramped up within the last hundred years or so, and the phenomenon was definitely well known by then. At least these folks had the foresight to invest in building their house on stilts; it’s the people who don’t even bother with that I have less sympathy for.

21

u/goodsam2 Jun 06 '25

Well it's also building homes and hurting the dunes. Giant banks of sand and the grass that holds the dunes together. So also partially manmade.

3

u/wittgensteins-boat Jun 07 '25

If your house was built on the dune,  200 yards from the beach in 1950, you would not be worried, about the beach moving  5 yards a year. 

Over 75 years, those  200 yards are  all used up, and the house  is 50 feet from shore, and in 10 feet of water.  

The person that built the house died decades ago.

2

u/mrgreengenes04 Jun 07 '25

Most likely, yes. I'd say 90% of homes in the Outer Banks are vacation rentals, not homes people live in full-time. Beachfront properties have a rental premium over ones that require a walk to the beach. They know they will likely eventually collapse, but may as well make the money when you can.

1

u/HopefulButThisSucks Jun 06 '25

I know in Panama City beach Florida they pipe in sand to keep the beach built up. I’ve been coming here forever and never knew it until a few years ago I witnessed it and read up on it. Fascinating stuff

1

u/HERPES_COMPUTER Jun 07 '25

It’s also important to note that daming rivers upstream causes the water to drop its natural sedimentation load and come out “hungry.”

I believe it’s an issue in a lot of river deltas that the barrier islands are getting chewed up by the rivers. These types of islands are supposed to change, but not on such a fast time scale.

2

u/Enough_Roof_1141 Jun 06 '25

Barrier islands are very liquid. They move, they grow, the erode. King tides and storms change things.

1

u/Pungentpelosi123 Jun 07 '25

Because sand washes away from beaches continuously. If you buy a beachfront house typically you have to get insurance overseas. It’s been doing this for many of years. I have watched 2 row of houses disappear in my life in beaches along the Carolina coast. It’s a first world problem. You shouldn’t buy in barrier islands if this concerns you.