RODANTHE, N.C. — Each day, the waves wash up against the base of a handful of houses on GA Kohler Court in Rodanthe. The thought of each person who walks by, "is that going to be the next house to go?"
The Cape Hatteras National Seashore has been monitoring this string of houses off America Drive for months. For the most part, their condition has not changed, but now the back decks of the northernmost house are starting to lean down, maybe feeling the power of the every day beat down of the Atlantic Ocean.
Watch: New report outlines ideas to address threatened oceanfront homes on North Carolina's coast
In August, a major report about threatened oceanfront structures was released. A group of more than 30 local, state and federal partners worked for a year and half about potential solutions to the issue of houses being claimed by the ocean.
“This isn’t the first time that folks have looked at this issue but there is this increasing sense of urgency," said Braxton Davis, executive director for the North Carolina Coastal Federation, who contributed to the report.
Erosion is nothing new for barrier islands like the Outer Banks. Some who aren't familiar with the Outer Banks ask why anyone would build their house that close to the ocean.
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But years and decades ago, most homeowners had hundreds of yards of beach to enjoy and the threat of the water taking their home one day wasn't an issue.
“We have areas of the seashore in these villages where the erosion rate can be three to four meters a year. And while that might not be much to see 10 or 15 feet in a year, you look at a decade, and realize 150 feet of beach just disappearing to the ocean can be very significant if your house was an oceanfront house to begin with," said Dave Hallac, superintendent of Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
Watch: Cleanup underway for Rodanthe house swept up in waves
A working group of more than 30 local, state and federal partners spent the last year and a half coming up with potential solutions to the issue of houses being taken by the ocean. For the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in the short-term, it’s about avoiding the inevitable of a home collapsing.
“What we're really pushing is avoiding a catastrophic collapse. So, we're communicating with all of the owners of these threatened oceanfront structures and requesting that they move or remove their homes before a collapse, and additionally have a contractor ready to remove debris if there is a catastrophic collapse," said Hallac.
In Rodanthe, that communication has been with more than two dozen homeowners, according to Hallac.
Watch: What can be done to prevent Outer Banks homes from falling into the ocean?
For the North Carolina Coastal Federation, they feel it might be best for changes to come to current programs or an entirely new funding source to support the public safety risk of a house falling into the ocean.
“Everyone has a stake in making sure we don’t have the public health risks, the environmental concerns from all the debris. It’s not really a win-win but it’s really reducing the costs across the board and the challenges associated with this," said Davis.
Seven houses have already collapsed since 2020 and there remain plenty more with front row seats to potential disaster.
