Findings more than 50 years ago by coastal geologist Robert Dolan and husband-and-wife researchers Paul and Melinda Godfrey changed barrier island understanding and led the National Park Service to reverse longstanding policy.
The extreme weather and rising seas caused by the climate crisis are driving home an increasingly urgent lesson in the United States: An enormous infusion of money and effort will be needed to get ready.
On the Outer Banks, homeowners in Avon are confronting a tax increase of almost 50 percent to protect their homes, the only road into town, and perhaps the community's very existence.