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Seven North Carolina beachfront
homes collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean since Tuesday, including six in less than 24 hours as hurricanes
passed offshore.
The seventh home collapsed just after 8 p.m. on Wednesday in Buxton. Town officials said the home was unoccupied before it collapsed.
Laura Moore, a professor in the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill’s College of Arts Sciences’ Earth, Marine and Environmental
Sciences department, has studied patterns along the coast and the impact
of climate change.
“It’s such a difficult problem
for those who are experiencing it firsthand,” Moore said.
The six homes collapsing
Tuesday and the seventh on Wednesday brings the total to 19 during the last five
years in the Rodanthe and Buxton area.
“Unfortunately, Buxton and
Rodanthe are one of these places where there is not enough sand coming in
to replace the sand that is coming out by long-shore currents and so the
shoreline is moving land where chronically the shoreline is eroding,”
Moore said.
Many people suggest spending
money on beach renourishment to protect the coastal homes.
“What’s particularly
challenging in these areas is the amount of sand that would be needed to
counter the long-term erosion, the quantities are large, the frequency would
have to be so often that it’s really extremely expensive,” Moore said.
Moore says there’s an expected increase in the
frequency of severe storms due to climate change. Those storms are
occurring on higher water levels than in the past and they are more
intense.
WRAL News asked Moore what the
solution is to coastal erosion.
“If we want the landscape to
persist in the long-term, the ideal solution is to adapt with it in some way,”
Moore said.
Humberto and Imelda remain offshore in the Atlantic Ocean. However, ocean overwash from the storms has breached the dune line and pushed deep sand and water onto the road.
WRAL News has reported about how many sea level rise experts believe there are areas of barrier islands that are not ideal for development.
Rodanthe has become the focal point in the national conversation about the impacts of climate change on sea level rise in coastal areas.
When homes fall, they leave behind dangerous debris that can scatter for miles along the shoreline.
Oftentimes, property owners are forced by the conditions of their insurance to wait until a home collapses. Then, they can collect their insurance money.
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