The Outer Banks are barrier islands. The natural tendency of any barrier island chain is to very slowly “walk” to the mainland with constant wave and prevailing wind action. It is natural, nothing more. To conclude that the ocean is rising rather than the barrier eroding is a fool’s errand. My question is are houses being overtaken by the “rising” ocean on the sound side of the Outer Banks? I would very much doubt it./p>
This is nothing new. The late David Stick, a prolific writer about the Outer Banks, stated that many years ago one could see tree stumps in the surf north of Corolla. Evidence that it had once been a forest. Early bankers built their homes on the sound side. The Banks are barrier islands, made of sand. The sand erodes on the ocean side, and builds up on the sound side from sediment washed down the rivers that empty into the sound. Been happening forever. The islands are constantly changing. One piece of evidence of this is that there have been 27 inlets through the banks (NC/VA line to Cape Lookout) since the first Englishmen came here in 1585. Most of these have closed, and the only one to remain open during that entire time has been Okracoke inlet.
Even the term inlet is incorrect. It is really an outlet for the river water to exit back to the sea.