"NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH, N.C. -- A crane swung a new roof truss into place above a house being built on this belt of sand last week, helping to expand development on what some experts say is one of the most dangerous islands to build on in the United States."
"Construction has already produced a line of stilted houses along the beach of this barrier island in southeastern North Carolina, despite a law passed 30 years ago that barred it from receiving federal money for a variety of things, including federal flood insurance, money for roads and bridges, and federal help building dunes.
Congress saw big risks in putting money into this frequently shifting island and hundreds of other coastal areas around the country. However, the Coastal Barrier Resources Act signed into law by President Reagan in 1982 doesn't prohibit local residents from building on these strips of unbroken sand and soggy wetlands."
Evan Lehmann reports for ClimateWire December 2, 2013.
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