At times, tragically, the forces of Mother Earth can’t be controlled — as was seen last week in Rodanthe, North Carolina.
There, yet another beachfront home collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean — a scene that’s becoming all too familiar for this Outer Banks community. It was located at 23214 Corbina Drive.
The destruction, caught on camera, serves as a harsh reminder of the growing threats facing coastal homes in this vulnerable area. This was the seventh house to collapse on the seashore in just four years as rising sea levels, beach erosion and fierce storms turn dream homes into debris fields.
The Cape Hatteras National Seashore, now on a first-name basis with fallen houses, is in touch with the owner but doesn’t expect to start cleanup until next week, once the seas calm down.
David and Teresa Kern had purchased the residence in 2019 for $339,000, records show. Teresa told The Post that they were aware her home had gone viral — and they were currently working to get all the paperwork done to figure out what finances they could salvage.
The Kerns had purchased the property as a secondary vacation home, while their main residence is in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
According to the previous listing, the home was made up of four bedrooms and two baths, occupying about 1,500 square feet.
Built in 1973, the listing — now rather eerily — noted: “Watch dolphins play in the ocean from three levels of oceanfront decks at Dolphin’s Point. This charming home sits right on the oceanfront so your fun can begin the moment you arrive! Feel the ocean breeze and smell the salt air from the porch swing, or lounge in one of the chairs with a good book while you listen to the music of the waves on the shore.”
“That’s what happens for all these houses. Eventually when the ocean erodes enough of the beach, then it takes the foundation out from under the house. As it lost beach, it lost the sand under its pilings and eventually the house just collapsed,” Dare County Manager Bobby Outten told The Post.
While Rodanthe’s 200 residents watched another piece of their community disappear, local officials warn that more homes are at risk as Hurricane Ernesto, though miles offshore, churns up dangerous swells and high tides.
Options for those staring down the ocean’s advance are bleak. Homeowners can shell out big bucks to move their houses inland, pay to have them demolished, or wait for the inevitable collapse and hope their insurance will cover the loss.
“Short of that, the individual homeowner doesn’t have a lot of options,” said Outten. “In our state, there aren’t many tools in the toolbox, if you will, to protect from from oceanfront erosion.”
In a bid to stave off further damage, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore launched a pilot program to buy and demolish two at-risk properties. But as David Hallac, superintendent of the national parks in eastern North Carolina, explained, the funds are limited, leaving many homeowners out of luck.
Hallac also pointed out that these collapses aren’t just a problem for the property owners.
When a house falls, it breaks apart into thousands of pieces, spreading debris for miles and posing significant risks to both beachgoers and the environment. After Friday’s collapse, the National Park Service strongly advised visitors to steer clear of Rodanthe’s beaches and waters.
Attempts to replenish sand along the beach have been tried in other parts of Dare County, but Rodanthe hasn’t seen that kind of investment yet. Outten estimated the cost would be in the tens of millions — money that simply isn’t there.
The only solution is beach nourishment, Outten explained. Beach nourishment is the process of adding sand to a beach to replace what’s been washed away by waves and storms. This helps prevent erosion, protects coastal property, and keeps the beach looking nice for visitors. It’s like refilling a sandy shoreline to keep it from disappearing over time.
“This area could benefit from beach nourishment. But we don’t have enough money currently to afford to be able to. It’s about a $40 million or more project to nourish that beach one time, and you can’t nourish it once you got to do it consistently.”
Outten estimates for a place like Rodanthe, there would have to be beach nourishment every five years or so.
For now, Rodanthe’s residents are left to watch and wait as the ocean creeps closer, claiming homes one by one.
While Outten could not comment on the Kerns decision to purchase the house in the 2019, he explains that beach erosion has long been a plague.
“This isn’t something that just occurred, you know, this weekend. It’s been going on over there for a long time,” Kern said.