Outer Banks

Over the past couple of decades, many North Carolina beachfront houses have been lost to the Atlantic Ocean. As climate change brings rising sea levels, the search for solutions becomes more pressing. As part of our "Rising Waters," WHQR's David Boraks has this report.

The state Senate passed a bill Thursday designed to protect Jockey's Ridge on the Outer Banks from damaging development projects.

A new Fresnel lens will be fabricated for the beacon. Window ornaments and ironwork will also be restored.

State and local officials have been trying to figure out what to do about the growing number of threatened beachfront houses on North Carolina's Atlantic coast. The problem is there's no designated pool of money to demolish or move the houses. Now the National Park Service is stepping in to help.

Coastal experts say North Carolina lacks the money and laws it needs to deal with hundreds of beachfront houses at risk of collapsing into the Atlantic Ocean because of sea level rise and erosion. A new state task force is looking for solutions.

A federal appeals court has ruled that the state can proceed with a $500 million bridge between the mainland and North Carolina's Outer Banks, despite the objections of environmental and citizens' groups.

Residents on a stretch of North Carolina's Outer Banks where houses fell into the ocean last year want a beach replenishment project to protect additional homes and prevent flooding. But at a public meeting in Rodanthe Wednesday night, Dare County officials said there's no way to pay for it.

While the most famous shipwreck in the world may be the Titanic, there are an estimated three million ships sitting at the bottom of the ocean. We talk to one author that argues there is much to learn about technology, failure and progress both below and above the surface from these lonely vessels in his new book "Sinkable: Obsession, the Deep Sea, and the Shipwreck of the Titanic."

A new bridge that shifts the main road on North Carolina's Outer Banks off a frequently-flooded section of Hatteras Island still isn't open, three months after officials held a grand opening. State transportation officials blame the holdup on poor quality pavement markings.

Officials on North Carolina's northern Outer Banks are urging a federal appeals court to uphold approval of a proposed half-billion-dollar bridge they say would improve traffic flow to and from the mainland.