OUTER BANKS, N.C. — Coastal communities like the Outer Banks are grappling with the realities of rapid erosion in areas of our community and how to address it with a push in Buxton for a rebuilding of the jetty system.

"In the area of Buxton, it's been eroding about half a mile per century for a fairly long period of time. So this is a location that's eroding very quickly, Rodanthe is the same," said Laura Moore, a professor of coastal geomorphology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Hatteras Island has seen a devastating reality — 21 houses have ended up in the ocean on the island since 2020, with nine of those losses happening just in the last week in Buxton and Rodanthe. These are the two major hot spots right here in our backyard experiencing rapid erosion.

"All of

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