3 more NC beach homes crash into the Atlantic in 4 days
The very definition of insanity
After three more Outer Banks beach homes in the town of Rodanthe collapsed into the ocean in late September, the house surfing totals look like this:
- 3rd collapse in 24 hours
- 4th OBX house in the water in six weeks
- 10 OBX beach home failure since 2020
The Outer Banks of North Carolina are experiencing some of most rapid sea level rise on the planet, while at the same time beach erosion has been an ongoing threat to vacation homes for many decades.
And yet an awful lot of people don’t seem to grasp (or want to grasp) the scale of the problem.
Global Warming +
Even the knuckle draggers who continue to insist that climate change is a hoax understand that sea levels are rising on coasts of the Carolinas faster than almost anywhere else in the world. That truth is the major contributing factor to the crisis on the OBX. nothing can change the fact that these are low lying sand bars that have never been stable, so building on them has always been a risk.
Which explains why many owners and developer seem believe that someone else should assume the risk.
Some OBX residents have sold off and retreated while the getting is good; others have elevated their homes in the hopes that they will stave off disaster, at least in their lifetime. But the majority stay put and demand that the beaches get restored (re-nourished – a great euphemism for Other People’s Money) get restored by state or the Feds (the Federal government they despise). Repeat as needed.
Government over-reach is really about where the government is reaching.
But the fact is, these barrier islands are doomed as the oceans slowly, and now more quickly claim them. The water is moving in at rates of 10 to 15 feet a year in some places…And the water always wins.
WHO PAYS FOR THIS MESS?
The ongoing issue for the Outer Banks, Miami Beach, the Gulf Coast the coastal Northeast as well as other disappearing barrier islands throughout the US is: who pays for the wealthy to continue to rebuild on the coasts even though it is clear that this process is unsustainable?
You do. In a lot of sneaky ways.
Government subsidies and disaster relief policies encourage risky coastal development, artificially inflating property values. Start with the National Flood Insurance Program, created by the U.S. Congress in 1968. Private insurance is in business to make profits, so they are hesitant to subsidize a losing bet. The NFIP offers flood insurance at below market insurance rates for homes in risky places. Guess who makes up the different in premium payments?
Congratulations if you said “Me?”
OPM FOR THE OBX
Most taxpayers don’t realize we are also subsidizing wealthy beach home owners and corporate real estate investors as we unwittingly and involuntarily pony up for “beach re-nourishment.” Bringing in sand from elsewhere and dumping until the next storm.
We also pay for building massive coastal infrastructure with Federal dollars. Local and state governments persuade the Federal Government (taxpayers) to foot the bill for rebuilding coastal development in dumb places. For example, the Army Corps of Engineers pumped nearly 2 million cubic yards of sand to restore beaches in Ocean City after Hurricane Sandy washed them away. The city paid $4 million and the Feds paid $14 million. This process takes place around the country.
And, how do you feel about spending millions to restore the beaches of Surfside, FL, one of the wealthiest zip codes in the nation?
Here’s another powerful trend that almost no one thinks of: The so called “financialization” of real estate. As a major driver of the housing shortage and high rental prices, this process is where the money men lock up vast swatches of real estate. They are the fund guys who swoop in after major devastation and force out the people who used to live there. is driving prices up across the country. (Watch what happens after major storms like Helene.)
They have no stake in the locality and most likely live somewhere else. The net effect is to drive the markets upward and provide leverage for more risky behavior.
These boys have political influence and that’s why they are entitled to your money.
Quite simply, human nature guarantees that when owners don’t personally bear the true costs of insuring and rebuilding, they have no reason to stop. As the seas rise, storms become more intense and flooding increases, private insurance companies will continue to pull out of these regions and the burden will increasingly fall on the public, until the public figures it out and put a stop to it. Keep an eye on the insurance crisis already brewing post Helene.
As a taxpayer, you paid about $15 billion to construct a new massive levee system for New Orleans following Katrina? These are the same people who sued the Army Corps of Engineers for adequately protecting a place that should not be there in the first place. A new $57 billion federal project is underway to keep the booming Galveston real estate market thriving. In 1930, Galveston newspaper triumphantly crowed: “We have defeated the seas once and for all.” But the seas did not stay defeated.
If this kind of money were going to single mothers in the ‘hood, it would be labeled socialism.