Wow - 9 houses now. This must be a record. Are more apt to go? The winds up here in Kitty have dropped to under 10 mph but still from the NE.

www.outerbanksvoice.com/2...

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What is most terrible is that many of these homes were condemned but nothing was done to find a solution for removal. I know its very complicated but it could be figured out. There are many more standing alone against the ocean, and we know the ocean will win.

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They tried a payout program for relocation or removal and it was very successful. Too successful. It lasted only 5 years.

www.ncrabbithole.com/p/rodanthe-nc-outer-banks-ocean-house-collapse

" From the Island Free Press:

“There was, back in the 90s, an amendment to the National Flood Insurance Program called the Upton Jones Amendment,” said Couch, “and it essentially paid 40% of the property policy to relocate the home, and paid 110% of the policy to demolish the home.”

“Well, in its short five-year existence, with the combination of hurricanes, the lunar tides, and some bad stuff weather-wise, it proved to be very [costly], and 75% of the applicants were for demolishing their homes,” added Couch. “So, as you can imagine, the insurance lobby put the kibosh on that pretty quickly.”

In 2008, the town of Nags Head passed a resolution asking Congress to reinstate the Upton Jones Amendment. A few years later, they learned the hard way that you can’t just force people to tear down houses that end up on the beach due to erosion. In 2010, the city condemned several houses and ordered them to be demolished, but the homeowners sued, asking for compensation or permits to make repairs. A state appeals court eventually ruled in favor of the homeowners and said only the state had the power to order a home demolished. That ruling that made local government leaders wary of trying to do that again."

It's been posted before, but here's a graphic of the receding shoreline.

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My wife looked at the graphic I posted and missed the growth in the beach width from 1852 to 1946. It doubled in size.

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How long were these homes condemned because many had a realty company sign on them? How many were privately occupied before condemned? just asking. Do some owners remove the furniture before the ocean takes it when it’s in a bad zone? I watch the houses drop into the ocean and think of all the good building supplies gone…many looked like well maintained homes.

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Many of the owners of those homes owned them less than 4 years. I guess they bought when they could work from home so why not have a good view. I see one house there was owned by the guy that built my 1st house in 1991 so he knew the risks and he owned that house for a dozen years. I doubt many were condemned more than a few months to a year ago if the septic is uncovered. I am sure the owners take some things but not furniture.

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Many of the owners of those homes owned them less than 4 years. I guess they bought when they could work from home so why not have a good view. I see one house there was owned by the guy that built my 1st house in 1991 so he knew the risks and he owned that house for a dozen years. I doubt many were condemned more than a few months to a year ago if the septic is uncovered. I am sure the owners take some things but not furniture.

Are you talking about Kathy's house?

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Many of the owners of those homes owned them less than 4 years. I guess they bought when they could work from home so why not have a good view. I see one house there was owned by the guy that built my 1st house in 1991 so he knew the risks and he owned that house for a dozen years. I doubt many were condemned more than a few months to a year ago if the septic is uncovered. I am sure the owners take some things but not furniture.

Are you talking about Kathy's house?

Not sure who Kathy is. Olin Finch owned one and he is a builder up in Duck.

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How long were these homes condemned because many had a realty company sign on them?

Several of the Buxton cottages had guests booked/occupied up until about 2 weeks before last swell. The short term erosion in that spot was just incredible. Somewhat similar to the RWS situ of last summer.

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Many of the owners of those homes owned them less than 4 years. I guess they bought when they could work from home so why not have a good view. I see one house there was owned by the guy that built my 1st house in 1991 so he knew the risks and he owned that house for a dozen years. I doubt many were condemned more than a few months to a year ago if the septic is uncovered. I am sure the owners take some things but not furniture.

Are you talking about Kathy's house?

Not sure who Kathy is. Olin Finch owned one and he is a builder up in Duck.

Her home was one of the latest ones to go over. She and her husband built it and he passed away in 2023. He had an account on here and was a member of the owners forum. She still checks in every now and again under his account.
I feel so bad for her because of the comments some people have left on social media about the house.

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Do you mean the people who proclaim that you would have to be a total moron to build a house "right there on the beach with the water lapping up under it"? Those people? The ones who have never heard of erosion?

The ones who wonder how much those ultra wealthy paid to be able to build their houses on the Park Service's beach so they could be right next to the water? Those people? "THE BEACHES BELONG TO EVERYBODY, NOT JUST THE RICH."

If they weren't so uninformed and out of touch they'd be funny.

There was one comment on one of the articles that said that everybody who built on the sandbar should have to tear their house down and leave. They want the sandbar to be free and natural.

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They tried a payout program for relocation or removal and it was very successful. Too successful. It lasted only 5 years.

www.ncrabbithole.com/p/rodanthe-nc-outer-banks-ocean-house-collapse

" From the Island Free Press:

“There was, back in the 90s, an amendment to the National Flood Insurance Program called the Upton Jones Amendment,” said Couch, “and it essentially paid 40% of the property policy to relocate the home, and paid 110% of the policy to demolish the home.”

“Well, in its short five-year existence, with the combination of hurricanes, the lunar tides, and some bad stuff weather-wise, it proved to be very [costly], and 75% of the applicants were for demolishing their homes,” added Couch. “So, as you can imagine, the insurance lobby put the kibosh on that pretty quickly.”

In 2008, the town of Nags Head passed a resolution asking Congress to reinstate the Upton Jones Amendment. A few years later, they learned the hard way that you can’t just force people to tear down houses that end up on the beach due to erosion. In 2010, the city condemned several houses and ordered them to be demolished, but the homeowners sued, asking for compensation or permits to make repairs. A state appeals court eventually ruled in favor of the homeowners and said only the state had the power to order a home demolished. That ruling that made local government leaders wary of trying to do that again."

It's been posted before, but here's a graphic of the receding shoreline.

We were able to take advantage of the Upton Jones amendment when it was available.
But it works much like Flood insurance
They establish the current value up to 250 K and then depreciate it at the rate of 1 to 2 percent year base on the age of the structure

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Many of the owners of those homes owned them less than 4 years. I guess they bought when they could work from home so why not have a good view. I see one house there was owned by the guy that built my 1st house in 1991 so he knew the risks and he owned that house for a dozen years. I doubt many were condemned more than a few months to a year ago if the septic is uncovered. I am sure the owners take some things but not furniture.

Are you talking about Kathy's house?

Not sure who Kathy is. Olin Finch owned one and he is a builder up in Duck.

Her home was one of the latest ones to go over. She and her husband built it and he passed away in 2023. He had an account on here and was a member of the owners forum. She still checks in every now and again under his account.
I feel so bad for her because of the comments some people have left on social media about the house.

Growing up, my parents always told us that if we didn't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all.

I have not always gone by that rule, and am trying to do better by their wisdom. I have read too much social media lately about the homes in Buxton and it tears me up. I'm thinking these posters have probably never been to the Banks or simply have nothing better to do.

Don't forget that how we make others feel, is what defines "You." I read that somewhere and cannot cite the author, but it hits the nail on the head so they say.

We never know what is going on in someone's life.

End of rant...

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Seriously some of the bad nasty comments take with a grain of (sea) salt….if these nasty people had $$$$$ to buy they would be right up against the ocean fishing off a deck. It’s called jealousy.

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Seriously some of the bad nasty comments take with a grain of (sea) salt….if these nasty people had $$$$$ to buy they would be right up against the ocean fishing off a deck. It’s called jealousy.

This is correct!

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Agree, too, Jfalba and Bill. Read an IG post today where a man was showing his home in Buxton post Erin and was essentially pleading with people to be nice. His home took a beating after Humberto. People are totally throwing salt into the wounds.

Yeah, jealousy is probably it. He just needs to move on from ugly posts. Easier said than done.

Walk a mile in my shoes. Some of these posters have no clue.

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I am a minority because we actually have a house down here on the water and have navigated and endured the process for the last 29 years of buying building and maintaining a home on the water.

The rules even soundside are staggering with all the entities you have to deal with to do even the slightest thing. The oceanside homes that are facing the National Parks or USFWS properties have even more hoops to jump through ( or doors slammed in their faces)
It is also my opinion that the vast majority of overwash issues since 2008 have been exacerbated by mismanagement

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Not an owner, but long-time renter. Every time a house goes down, you can predict the comments on social media: don't build your house on the sand, should never be built that close to the ocean, should tear them all down, why were they just allowed to fall in... I listened in via Zoom to the county's meeting to discuss this two or three weeks ago. One of the folks in the chat, was the owner of the first house in Buxton that collapsed. She was fit to be tied. Had contractors lined up ready to move her house, and couldn't get the permits expedited by the county government. It's just sad all the way around. Our family will never have the money to own an oceanfront house, but the houses that get washed out are somebody's dream or pride and joy.

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Not an owner, but long-time renter. Every time a house goes down, you can predict the comments on social media: don't build your house on the sand, should never be built that close to the ocean, should tear them all down, why were they just allowed to fall in... I listened in via Zoom to the county's meeting to discuss this two or three weeks ago. One of the folks in the chat, was the owner of the first house in Buxton that collapsed. She was fit to be tied. Had contractors lined up ready to move her house, and couldn't get the permits expedited by the county government. It's just sad all the way around. Our family will never have the money to own an oceanfront house, but the houses that get washed out are somebody's dream or pride and joy.

"It's just sad all the way around. Our family will never have the money to own an oceanfront house, but the houses that get washed out are somebody's dream or pride and joy."

Or maybe just an investment gone bad. The ocean didn't just show up.

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Had contractors lined up ready to move her house, and couldn't get the permits expedited by the county government.

Appreciate yours and many others outlooks, that it is, while not unexpected, a sad situation all around.

Even more frustrating than waiting on permitting is the situation ('24) where a long time RWS cottage owner actually had a contractor on retainer so that when his cottage fell they could remove the debris before it headed south/out sea. The cottage fell after mid night, BUT NPS failed to notify the contractor as was the plan...so the debris was everywhere by the time the sun came up and contractor was advised.

Please know I'm not slamming NPS, this is an immensely complicated process w a bunch of moving parts.

Most surprising to me are the folks that maintain we're idjits for living where we do but then proudly announce they've been coming to OBX for 30/40 years...don't they realize that they rent these cottages? The most desirable being the ones closest to the water?

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Had contractors lined up ready to move her house, and couldn't get the permits expedited by the county government.

Most surprising to me are the folks that maintain we're idjits for living where we do but then proudly announce they've been coming to OBX for 30/40 years...don't they realize that they rent these cottages? The most desirable being the ones closest to the water?

Exactly right, OB. Good point.

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Not an owner, but long-time renter. Every time a house goes down, you can predict the comments on social media: don't build your house on the sand, should never be built that close to the ocean, should tear them all down, why were they just allowed to fall in... I listened in via Zoom to the county's meeting to discuss this two or three weeks ago. One of the folks in the chat, was the owner of the first house in Buxton that collapsed. She was fit to be tied. Had contractors lined up ready to move her house, and couldn't get the permits expedited by the county government. It's just sad all the way around. Our family will never have the money to own an oceanfront house, but the houses that get washed out are somebody's dream or pride and joy.

It's not county government, heck those guys you can influence with a BBQ event. It's the NPS and CAMA (coastal area mismanagment ass) that has the hoops that you must jump through.

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Had contractors lined up ready to move her house, and couldn't get the permits expedited by the county government.

Appreciate yours and many others outlooks, that it is, while not unexpected, a sad situation all around.

Even more frustrating than waiting on permitting is the situation ('24) where a long time RWS cottage owner actually had a contractor on retainer so that when his cottage fell they could remove the debris before it headed south/out sea. The cottage fell after mid night, BUT NPS failed to notify the contractor as was the plan...so the debris was everywhere by the time the sun came up and contractor was advised.

Please know I'm not slamming NPS, this is an immensely complicated process w a bunch of moving parts.

Most surprising to me are the folks that maintain we're idjits for living where we do but then proudly announce they've been coming to OBX for 30/40 years...don't they realize that they rent these cottages? The most desirable being the ones closest to the water?

Please feel free to slam NPS.
They have literally stood in the way for any reasonable and common sense approaches to moving, mitigating or post destruction clean up.
USFWS ( Pea island) is actually worse. Prior to 2008 they dug a canal from the sound to the top of Green lantern ct at the north end of Mirlo beach to help propagate wildlife. What they didn't think about was how the creek/canal would be a conduit for soundside flooding during and after hurricane Irene. It was a direct conduit for the soundside flooding that occured there and they never accepted any blame for it even when several owners mounted a suit ( that was dismissed) to say it was due to their actions.

Same storm was where the overwash occured at the old S curves where their abandoned maintenance buildings were left abandoned for 4 years 96 and they had no dunes around them on either side so when the waters rose...it flooded there and we were forced to have the steel bailey bridge at the new inlet ( see video the buildings were still standing when it was filmed ) for 4 years until a permanent replacement could be built.

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I remember when some organization was mapping the seabed off the coast…is there anything else unusual under the water geography that is making this erosion so drastic? How did Rodanthe/Mirlo beach fair? Someone have underwater maps?

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I remember when some organization was mapping the seabed off the coast…is there anything else unusual under the water geography that is making this erosion so drastic? How did Rodanthe/Mirlo beach fair? Someone have underwater maps?

There is a scientific basis for that .A member who used To come here for years( Salvo Jimmy) is a retired USN submarine captain and he would often speak of how the underwater geography in front of Salvo ( Where his house is) was unique to the outer banks and how it stabilized the area and it was a good place to build. I would think he would have had access to detailed charts long before you and I would of had access to them,

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