Man who couldn’t save his home from falling into ocean gets surprise punishment
A man who was tried unsuccessfully to save his home from falling into the ocean had salt rubbed on the wound.
Josh VanEmmerik, 31, lost his house on Oahu’s North Shore last week when it crumbled into the waves.
As if that wasn’t unfortunate enough, the state of Hawaii has sued VanEmmerik for allowing the pieces to drift into the ocean and litter a public beach.
A video recorded by a neighbor captured the oceanfront house falling apart.
Pieces of wood, metal and other materials were left strewn across the beach.
The lawsuit alleges that debris from the home have polluted state-owned land.
‘On September 24, 2024, large pieces of cement, wood, glass, electrical components, rebar, geotextile fabric, and other unidentified solid materials cover the State land spanning between the property boundary line and the ocean,’ states the complaint.
A local resident, Kevin Makana Emery, shared a video on Instagram and called out state officials for doing ‘ABSOLUTELY NOTHING’ to prevent the situation that had been ‘going on for years’.
‘Why are you NOT here cleaning this up!!! Talking about EXTREMELY DANGEROUS to our community members,’ Emery wrote.
‘Do something about it. This is the beach that my daughter plays. It’s literally covered in broken glass.’
Emery accused the state of pushing sand at Sunset Beach with excavators to cater to tourists and disrupting the natural cycle. He complained about fines punishing locals trying to protect their properties.
VanEmmerik in December was slapped with a $77,000 fine for violations around erosion control, Spectrum News reported.
The homeowner put polypropylene sandbags over other materials designed to control erosion and poured concrete on the bags and arranged rocks, according to KITV.
State authorities are demanding that VanEmmerik clear the debris and cover financial damages to restore the area.
Erosion is an ongoing environmental issue in other parts of the US beyond Hawaii.
Earlier this month, a man bought his dream home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, despite knowing that it would likely get swallowed by the ocean within a decade.
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