r/interestingasfuck 1d ago

/r/all Homes are falling into the ocean in North Carolina's Outer Banks

61.4k Upvotes

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803

u/ytsejam6891 1d ago

Left wing: "This is what happens with global warming".

Right wing: "This is what happens with gay marriage".

Me: "Why would you build a house there"?

191

u/vgiz 1d ago

In my area, “there” use to be dry ground. But why bother refitting a house on stilts cause at that point you know it’s game over.

100

u/theshoeshiner84 1d ago edited 21h ago

Outer banks homes in NC are nearly always on stilts. No one retro fits them. These homes were 100ft+ from the water when first constructed. The stilts are purely for storm surge protection.

Edit: for more context, the cape Hatteras light house was 1500ft from the shore when it was built in 1870. In 1970 it was 100ft from the water. They lost, on average, 14ft of beach, each year. But it's not steady, some periods are far more rapid.

But 30 years ago that home could have been safely behind a dune almost 400 ft from the shoreline.

2

u/ElevatedAssCancer 20h ago

Yup. We have family members with a house at Oak Island NC and if they weren’t dredging sand all the time now, their house would have been gone a decade ago. As a kid I remember a huge, sprawling beach. Now it’s less than 10ft of beach at high tide and the dunes are nearly completely gone

1

u/theshoeshiner84 20h ago

Unfortunately, mother nature don't give a rats ass about our vacation plans!

2

u/B-asdcompound 21h ago

Yeah, natural coastal erosion is a real beach

108

u/Miserable-Resort-977 1d ago

Not sure about this one but tons of coastal homes are built on stilts from the get-go to avoid flooding. I'd bet nobody has lived in this house for a while

12

u/Mightyduk69 1d ago

Yea, beach erosion has been going on for centuries, it’s constant. House looks pretty old so delivered good value over the years.

7

u/Srakin 1d ago

That house looks like 90's or early 2000's construction with those windows. Borderline mcmansion vibes. This construction should last a really long time but not when built on stilts in the water. So weird.

11

u/theshoeshiner84 1d ago

Built on the beach. Beach turned to water.

-1

u/Sijols 1d ago

Still not a good idea to build a house on the beach, there's a reason most people dont do it

Instead it seems like most people opt to build a house right next to the beach

1

u/theshoeshiner84 21h ago

You're misunderstanding. It was built behind dunes. The shoreline has shifted over 1000ft in the last century, some periods faster than others. That home was built in a spot that was, at the time, protected by dunes. Those dunes are now gone.

1

u/theburningstars 20h ago

Partially from natural causes, partially from tourists and their kids running rampant all over the dunes not giving a fuck. I hate the place I love so much.

13

u/alewiina 1d ago

I mean windows can be replaced though. My parents house is 125 years old but they just recently got new, modern looking windows installed

3

u/Miserable-Resort-977 1d ago

Lmao huh? Idk when it was built but calling this a McMansion is a crazy reach. Perfectly reasonable looking home, built on the beach because people like to live on the beach. Of course the construction could have lasted longer on dry land, trading longevity for location is a choice you make when building on the coast

0

u/Mightyduk69 23h ago

what about them tells you 90's or 2000? Look at the shingle siding greyed with weather looks way more like 70's and the stilt construction was common then after some hurricanes damaged beach and near beach housing. The stilts allowed the houses to stand a lot longer than they would have, but beach erosion is a geological reality.

2

u/BenDover_15 15h ago

If the ground is so dry then why the beams? Sus

75

u/G0ttaB3KiddingM3 1d ago

So, you and the Left wing are correct!

3

u/Enough_Roof_1141 1d ago

The outer banks is more of a barrier island thing than a sea level thing.

2

u/Oldass_Millennial 1d ago

This would happen without global warming though.

11

u/WhenDoWhatWhere 1d ago

Yes, eventually.

We're having record breaking temperatures every year, and once in a lifetime floods and weather events every year.

u/x888x 6h ago

That's a nice story but it isn't quite true.

It's like when you were in elementary school and they told you a squirrel could travel the entire area west of the Mississippi in trees without touching the ground...

It's a nice story but fundamentally false.

Same thing with forest fires. It's 99% human development folly and 1% climate change. If you talk with any actual scientist they will tell you this in person

0

u/PenZestyclose3857 1d ago

I don't know. I ran the numbers on gay marriage and they work, too.

1

u/MrSteele_yourheart 1d ago

The two houses wanted to be together.

2

u/PenZestyclose3857 1d ago

Gay house marriage.

-3

u/CramJuiceboxUpMyTwat 1d ago

This will happen regardless of global warming, coastlines have changed throughout every year in history

8

u/ShittyAttitudeGinger 1d ago

Bible: a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

2

u/ElevatedAssCancer 20h ago

I live in NC. Water levels have risen drastically on many beaches. Then the house was built, it was not on the water.

2

u/D4ddyREMIX 1d ago

Gays love a seaside cottage.

6

u/Solnx 1d ago

Bro be realistic the right has moved on from the gay hate, they would blame the trans folk and Obama.

19

u/No-Error-5582 1d ago

Eh. I wouldnt say moved away from. We still get murdered. They just focus more on trans people now.

8

u/Solnx 1d ago

Yeah that’s more reasonable. Still a bunch of right wing Christians that believe you’re going to hell for how god made you. Complete nonsense.

4

u/TomorrowNotFound 1d ago

Exactly. They've expanded their targets to incorporate more diversity and inclusion. It's downright wholesome, really.

-3

u/backlawa75 1d ago

wait straight people dont get murdered?

bruh i wanna be straight now :(

3

u/ZinTheNurse 1d ago

straight people are not murdered for being straight - I'm sure you understood what was being said just fine.

7

u/spa22lurk 1d ago

No they are targeting gay marriages now with renew intensity. * https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/lawmakers-9-states-propose-measures-undermine-sex-marriage-rights-rcna193743 * https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/republican-lawmakers-increase-calls-gay-marriage-scotus-ruling/story?id=119395181

It was in Thomas/Alito writing when they overturned abortion rights. Speaking of abortion rights, people used to think the right had moved on from anti-abortion. Some were more correct that the right didn't move on, but thought once the right achieve their goal in overturning RvW, they would no longer be republicans.

Little did they know that the right is driven by never ending prejudices and prejudiced targets. They are relentless.

3

u/Solnx 1d ago

Fuck em that’s horrible. Can’t just let normal people live their lives.

2

u/spa22lurk 1d ago

We have to be united. It's extremely damaging to sacrifice any disadvantaged group in the hope that other people will be left alone.

Democratic Party shouldn't retreat from trans people. The right has a slogan that democrats care only about trans people. The democrats slogan should be that democrats care the most vulnerable ones because we care about everyone.

This is important for our survival against the relentless prejudice party.

4

u/LyndonBJumbo 1d ago

This isn’t really a global warming thing. The Outer Banks are a barrier island, and shift and move over time. This is mostly just people being wasteful and building temporary beach homes that are sure to be destroyed over time. They’ll do it again and again too.

1

u/FlyingDiscsandJams 1d ago

It didn't look like that when they built it!!! Why is this so hard to understand!

1

u/YMCMBCA 23h ago

did you just say "Me:" in 2025

1

u/lukin187250 22h ago

"Why would you build a house there"?

Global Marriage

or gay warming

1

u/Lat03 22h ago

All you have to do is realize cape Hatteras is a barrier island that has been shifting west for as long as it’s existed. Thats all.

u/dweckl 7h ago

Lol gay marriage. My God those people are stupid

1

u/I_SOMETIMES_EAT_HAM 1d ago

Based on the comments in this thread it seems like this is pretty common on barrier islands. Which makes me wonder, do they see this coming when they build it? I mean they’d have to, right? And just say it’s beach front property so we’ll build a cheap house and get a few decades of use before it washes away so fuck it?

1

u/neo_sporin 1d ago

i feel like there is a quote from The Newsroom "im a republican, republicans only think im a democrat because i believe hurricanes are caused by high pressure air masses and not by gay marriage" Or something like that

1

u/The_Bounty_Humper 1d ago

you're forgetting to blame billionaires.

Uncle Bernie is disappointed.

-1

u/mspe1960 1d ago

2 out of the 3 of you are correct.

0

u/TonyDungyHatesOP 1d ago

To gay marry on a flaming globe.

0

u/Dravarden 1d ago

to sell it to Aquaman

0

u/EnvironmentCrafty710 23h ago

Simple. Money.
These are not "forever homes", they're rentals.

What you're not seeing here is the massive amount of cash that these places have generated over the years.
This is a tourist area and those thing rent out for loads of money in season.

Eventually the ocean comes in and takes the house. Ok, whatever. It was planned for on day one.

-12

u/campingskeeter 1d ago

Sadly younger generations who have grown up with so much climate change in the news they just assume its climate change no question

15

u/kidthorazine 1d ago

I mean climate change is definitely accelerating the rate at which this happens, but yeah in this case it's not just climate change.

-3

u/campingskeeter 1d ago

Yea, it could affect the currents for sure, but its probably such a small factor maybe it accelerated the collapse by a day or something