Okay, we've seen these pictures before. I've never been to these barrier islands. But as I'm sitting here watching the news seeing these houses tip over into the ocean, I'm left wondering . . . what in the heck are they doing there in the first place???

Somebody educate me. I'm missing something here. The term barrier island seems to be enough of a threat to construction there in the first place. But on the shore of a beach facing the ocean?

???

just think of them as really high priced trailers , set on a beautiful beach that is in very high demand , it is beautiful for all but a few days every 5-7 years and in most cases you can get 30+ before one tips over into the ocean

it is just a different kind of thinking than your great great grandfather build a house in 1890 and your family has lived there for 5 generations

We got hundreds here, I can see the barrier beach from my house.
They started out as beach shacks, built with salvaged wood washed up by the surf....they periodically got washed away by hurricanes and noreasters, no problem, just rebuild them again.

When the National seashore took over all the squatter shacks were burned down, and the few with land titles got 10 years reprieve.

But outside the park in the established communities the property value is high, so the homes are expensive, but they still succumb to mother nature occasionally....So the owners whine and complain to be allowed to rebuild and have the beach restored by tax payer funds in expensive restoration projects...of course this is an ongoing process cause storms don't care how much money you pour on the beach.....

So now there's million dollar plus homes, in a danger zone, with owners with a lot of political pull to keep the status quo.....

The answer is the govt pay the owners for the property, instead of pouring millions into restoration, and let the beach do what it's always done..come and go, but that ain't what happens.....

If you go back and look at historical photos, some of those homes, and homes that have been lost in recent times were built when there was much more beachfront, and dunes. The location of them specifically in Buxton, Rodanthe etc on the OBX take a beating when there's high tide, full moon. When there are strong storms? Forget it, it wipes away the shoreline. The Hatteras Lighthouse has been moved, and it's new location is slowly eroding closer. I remember as a kid in the 80's being on the beach and they were wide and expansive on Hatteras, now... homes that were once a mile from the water, are now falling into it.

That’s what’s happening.

Shorelines are ever shifting. Particularly at Rodanthe.

And the houses behind them I see on green grass will be tipping over some day after the beach front erodes to their foundations. So it goes.

Happens to a lesser degree in the gulf as well. Dauphin Island should be shifting west but the pre-civil war Ft Gaines anchors the eastern tip and erosion has all but reached the walls of the Fort and were it not for regular effort and reinforcement it would have long ago met the fate of the nearby Sand Island Lighthouse, no island.

The gulf coast spends millions on beach replacement but Mississippi holds the cake. Historically they had little to no actual beach just shoreline. Development would gain them miles of concrete seawall in the early 20th century. You would never know it today as almost the entire length of the Mississippi coast has pumped in sand beaches. Sand beaches that require almost annual replenishment.

I lived about five miles from those houses for 15 years. A friend owned a home in ground zero, but sold it two years ago. The Outer Banks are moving westward a little each year. Ocean overwash takes sand across the island and deposits it on the sound side of the island. This action results in the loss of beach sand in front of ocean front houses. Sand also migrates up or down the beach. Inlets move as well. That beach is very dynamic.

Now add in sea level rise, and you have a double edge problem. Thirty years ago those houses were well off the beach. Flood insurance doesn’t cover beach erosion, and homeowner insurance will not pay to move a house. Private land comes at a premium on Hatteras Island. 86% of the island is owned by the Cape Hatteras National seashore, and they own the beachfront up to the high tide line. In many cases, a higher lot is impossible to find.

The National Park owns the seashore. A homeowner is free to move his sand around with a tractor, put he cannot push sand back on his lot from the street. The sand belongs to NPS. The surf line is theirs also.

It is all a matter of time. In 100 years, those island might look like a series of many smaller islands.