People's houses are collapsing into the ocean. FEMA gives them no other option
Homeowners in North Carolina are facing the loss of their properties to coastal erosion as rising sea levels threaten barrier islands. Current FEMA policies inadvertently incentivize owners to wait for total structural collapse before seeking financial assistance, rather than proactively removing doomed homes.
Why it matters
This highlights a critical failure in federal disaster policy where insurance incentives conflict with climate adaptation and public safety.
Richard Foreman's home is stranded in the middle of the beach.
The stairs were ripped away by waves years ago, so there's no way in or out anymore. The house is 20 feet into the air, on stilts that were designed to protect it from hurricane storm surge. But there haven't been any big storms recently, just the rising ocean eating away at the sand year after year.
Just six years ago, the house was still a popular vacation rental in Rodanthe, North Carolina. Like many beachfront houses, it had a nickname: Sea 'n Delight. Today, the name is gone, and the house is uninhabitable. At low tide, the Atlantic Ocean laps at what used to be the driveway. At high tide, the ocean runs beneath the entire house.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in