Recent footage of oceanfront homes along North Carolina's heralded Outer Banks, captured via drone, has made serious waves - no pun intended.
According to the NY Post, the footage was recorded by WRAL News in Raleigh-Durham on Friday. In the footage, several homes appear to be on the brink of being swallowed up by the nearby ocean waters. According to one homeowner, several of the houses have already been foreclosed on by the banks. Those homes were said to have once been about 100 yards from the rising surf.
Sharon Troy is one of the homeowners who is now on the brink of losing her Rodanthe, North Carolina home. Troy's family has owned there once oceanside home for 16 years. She says that while many say hateful things, regarding the silliness of building a home in the ocean, that was not the intent over a decade-and-a-half ago. Troy has receipts to back of her claims as well. She notes that a pile of sand near her home, used to be GA Kohler Street. Moreover, Troy insists that a "football field of beach" once sat behind her house, as well as the homes of her equally unfortunate neighbors.
Drone Footage Shines Light On Rising Sea Levels in Outer Banks
Years of beach erosion and highs winds have created a recipe for disaster for Troy and her neighbors. Conditions have become all too perfect for large waves to damage the vulnerable properties. Likewise, financial misfortune leaves Troy and others without any options. Troy says of her own situation that they "aren't rich people," and are not able to simply move the residence. Making things all the more complicated are insurance companies, which apparently won't intervene until the houses "fall over."
Troy and her neighbors are not the first to run into this issue along the Outer Banks. The Banks, which is made up of barrier islands that stretch 200 miles along North Carolina and Virginia, have played host to this issue again and again. Before Sharon Troy's property was captured via drone, there was another unlucky Rodanthe resident, who's property collapsed into the ocean just last month.