‘The Ocean is Catching Up’: Why Coastal Homeowners are Spending Big on Small Moves

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BY BEN TRACY, SENIOR CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT ON ASSIGNMENT FOR CLIMATE CENTRAL

BUXTON, N.C. — Standing near the edge of the Atlantic Ocean on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Lat Williams points out into the distance, recalling a neighborhood that no longer exists. 

"There were three houses over here, and one out here, one right here,” Williams said, gesturing toward the open water. "and our house was right here."

In the Buxton neighborhood where Williams and his wife Debbie have lived for nearly two decades, the map has been rewritten in just 12 months. Over the past year, 21 homes along this strip of barrier island have collapsed into the Atlantic as storms and relentless wave action ate away at the sand beneath them. At the height of one surge, five houses went down in a span of just 45 minutes.

The house directly on the beachfront went first and set off a domino effect. Williams recalled the moment the ocean took his neighbor's property and then came for his own. "It was devastating to stand there and watch our neighbor’s house bump into the corner of our deck."

Lat and Debbie woke up to find their three-bedroom home now hanging over the water with several of its structural supports gone. The Williamses never considered abandoning the home, which is filled with generations of family memories. So instead of simply packing their things, they decided to make a different kind of move. 

"I mean it was the whole house," Williams said. 

A $250,000 Gamble Against the Sea

Last November, with patio furniture still sitting on the deck, the Williamses’ entire home was jacked up, mounted on heavy-duty wheels, and slowly rolled two blocks inland. It was anchored on a new lot they purchased 600 feet from the water.

This was neither easy nor cheap. Williams estimates the total cost reached "north of a quarter million" dollars. "It took a bite out of the retirement fund," he said.

Most homeowners do not have that kind of money to save their homes from rising waters and most flood insurance policies will not pay out until a home actually collapses into the ocean.

"When that occurs there typically is a bit of a mess," said Dave Hallac, superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, which stretches for 80 miles along the Outer Banks.

Following last year's collapses, Hallac’s team was left managing a miles-long debris field of splintered wood, exposed nails, and septic lines strewn across public beaches. Standing outside another abandoned home in nearby Rodanthe, Hallac pointed out that it no longer had any stairs or power lines connected to it. 

"If this house follows the path of the others it will most likely collapse at some point," Hallac said. "The ocean is simply catching up to this development."

'A Foot Higher Than When These Homes Were Built'

Many of the cottages dotting the Outer Banks were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s. At the time, they were set back hundreds of feet from the surf, buffered by wide sand dunes. Today, the Atlantic is an increasingly unwelcome neighbor.

"The ocean is literally at the front door," said Reide Corbett, coastal scientist and Interim Dean at East Carolina University.

Corbett points out that while barrier islands naturally shift, the loss along parts of the Outer Banks is extreme. "You can find areas that have erosion rates of 10 to 15 feet per year," Corbett said. "You’re losing hundreds and hundreds of feet of potential beachfront during the time of a single mortgage."

The continued burning of fossil fuels by humans is driving sea levels higher as ice sheets melt and warming water expands. Along the Mid-Atlantic, sea levels have risen roughly a foot over the last century.

"Sea level has risen by a foot and it continues to erode," Corbett explained. "So anything on top of that: high tide, a wave, a storm, you start a foot higher than you were when many of these homes were built."

According to Climate Central data, by 2050, an estimated 2.5 million Americans and 1.4 million homes across U.S. coastlines will be at risk from severe coastal flooding.

"This is an example of what every community at some point in the not too distant future will be managing," Corbett said.

Lifting History in Connecticut

Hundreds of miles up the eastern seaboard, homeowners are trying a different tactic to outrun rising waters. They are lifting their properties straight up into the air.

In Connecticut, Tim Rath recently watched his 60-ton house hover above its old foundation. Resting on 10 massive steel beams, a hydraulic jacking system raised the home one foot at a time until it sat 9.5 feet higher than it did that morning. The structural lift alone carried a $50,000 price tag.

"I’ve been here for 42 years," Rath said. "I’ve been through four or five major floods and it gets old after a while."

Rath’s shoreline neighborhood was devastated in 2012 when Superstorm Sandy battered the Northeast, causing nearly $70 billion in damages nationwide. Pointing to his lower level, Rath recalled how the surge provided a frightening view from his picture windows. "The waves would come in here and fill this up like an aquarium right to the roof."

In the years since Sandy, newly engineered seawalls have gone up across the town, and nearly half the homes in Rath’s neighborhood have been elevated on pilings. For Rath, the financial investment is about preserving his family’s legacy. He plans to give the home to his now three-year-old grandson. 

The $50 Million Lifeline

While individual homeowners raise foundations or buy new lots inland, local governments are spending millions to keep whole towns from washing away.

Back in Buxton, heavy machinery pours tons of dredged sand back onto the battered beach. It is a process known as beach nourishment and is an expensive, temporary solution designed to shield both homes and Highway 12, the sole artery connecting the Outer Banks to the mainland.

"The only reason you’re here or I’m here or anybody’s here is because we have a beach," said Dare County Manager Bobby Outten.

Rebuilding this single stretch of beach costs roughly $50 million. Local officials have funded the project three separate times in the last decade alone, alongside repairs to a nearby broken jetty designed to slow sand drift.

"Beach nourishment is a great tool as long as you’ve got enough sand and enough money because it works," Outten said.

'Answered Prayers'

For homeowners like Lat Williams, adapting to climate realities is the only path forward. Standing on the roof of his newly relocated house, looking out toward the ocean that nearly claimed his home, he acknowledged the reality of the crisis.

"We don't deny that there is climate change and that it's affecting things, but you need to adapt to that. You can't just say, 'Well, abandon everything,'" Williams said. 

Mounted on the front of his home is a wooden plaque bearing the house's new name.

"We both agreed 'Answered Prayers' was an appropriate name," Williams said with a quiet smile. "It still feels like home."