An idle bipartisan bill that would allow beachfront homeowners to receive insurance payouts for homes at threat of falling into the Atlantic before they collapse – to demolish or move them before they are claimed by the sea – isn’t likely to see action before the next storm impacts more threatened structures.
Related content: NC coastal symposium discussed solutions for coastal erosion, home collapses amid sea level rise and climate change
Republican North Carolina U.S. Congressman Greg Murphy introduced the Preventing Environmental Hazards Act in May alongside Maine Democrat Congresswoman Chellie Pingree. A similar bill was introduced a year earlier but was not acted upon.
The legislation would authorize National Flood Insurance Program payouts for homes condemned because of chronic erosion or severe flooding. Currently homeowners can’t make a claim until the house falls in.
According to the National Weather Service in Newport/Morehead City, king tides this week paired with a storm system approaching later in the week are expected to bring coastal flooding and high surf to eastern North Carolina and the Outer Banks.
Related content: Cape Hatteras superintendent: Large number of threatened oceanfront structures right up next to or over the Atlantic
Officials at Cape Hatteras National Seashore said 21 privately-owned houses have collapsed on beaches in Buxton and Rodanthe since 2020 – nine of them last week from the impact of offshore Hurricanes Imelda and Humberto.
A state and National Park Service report from August 2024 identified over 750 homes along the entire North Carolina coast as threatened by erosion.
Beaches near the collapses in Buxton and Rodanthe remain closed because of debris and damage from last week’s high surf and because further homes remain at risk of falling into the ocean.
