New studies show that both beach nourishments and buyouts in the Outer Banks community of Rodanthe, N.C., will be costly. But no funding for any fix is in sight.
Beachfront property owners in Rodanthe want beach nourishment to protect their erosion-threatened houses, but the questions of how much sand and how to pay for it are unanswered.
The shift makes it cheaper for some of the wealthiest communities to replenish their beachfronts, which are increasingly under threat from more frequent and intense storms, rising seas and other effects of climate change.
In the wake of hurricanes like Florence, the U.S. government pays to dump truckloads of sand onto eroding beaches, in a cycle that is said to harm ecosystems and disproportionately benefit the rich.
