Alabama's Beach Homes Keep Washing Away — And America Keeps Rebuilding Them With Your Money

On a skinny strip of sand off the Alabama coast, hundreds of vacation homes stand on stilts over the Gulf of Mexico — and they keep getting destroyed. Hurricane Frederic flattened the island in 1979. Georges buried it in sand. Katrina cut it in two. And every single time, the money that rebuilds Dauphin Island's west end comes from the same place: the American taxpayer. Behind it all sits the National Flood Insurance Program — a federal program created in 1968 to insure what no private company would touch, now more than $20 billion in debt, quietly paying to rebuild the same addresses over and over. One modest Mississippi house flooded 34 times and collected over $660,000 — nearly ten times its value. Congress fixed the system exactly once, in 2012. Two years later, it unfixed it. In this video: what a barrier island really is, and why building on one is an argument with geology — the hurricanes that keep winning — the oil spill that accidentally stitched the island back together — the insurance program that replaced the danger sign with an invitation — the one percent of properties that swallow a third of the money — the rule that makes the stilts taller after every storm — and why nobody in this story is breaking a single rule. So which is it: should America stop insuring the edge of the ocean and let places like this fade from the map — or keep paying, forever, to hold a wave of sand still? Let me know in the comments below. CHAPTERS 0:00 The rental listing leaves one thing out 2:20 Dauphin Island: the postcard 4:00 What a barrier island really is 5:30 The island moved out from under the addresses 6:40 1979: the rescue that invited everyone back 7:50 Georges, Ivan, Katrina — the island cut in two 9:00 The oil spill that stitched it back together 9:50 The ritual: declaration, sand, stilts, repeat 11:00 The program that made it all make sense 13:00 One percent of the houses, a third of the money 14:40 The two doors the money comes through 15:40 Why the stilts keep getting taller 16:30 2012: the system told the truth — once 17:50 There is no villain in this story 19:00 The machine is still running 19:40 Protect the people, or stop the machine? #DauphinIsland #Alabama #FloodInsurance #FEMA #Documentary