At the tip of Tuk is a scenic, gravelly sliver known as “the Point.” A few benches line the rocky coast, but no development is allowed here anymore. In the past few decades both a school and the RCMP detachment were moved away from this area and further inland.

Last fall, a building that belonged to Tuktoyaktuk’s public works department was demolished after it toppled over when the earth gave way.

“The erosion has accelerated,” said Darrel Nasogaluak, Tuk’s mayor. He explained that longer summers and fiercer storms mean the coast is crumbling in front of them, while the permafrost melts beneath their feet.

“All it would take is one or two big storms and the houses you see behind me would be greatly at risk.” He pointed to four homes perched on top of the jagged shore. In front of them are large boulders that were brought up to Tuk on barges and put on the beach as a barrier against erosion. It hasn’t worked.

Darrel Nasogaluak, Tuktoyaktuk’s mayor, said that longer summers and fiercer storms mean the coast is crumbling in plain view. (Chris Corday/CBC) Darrel Nasogaluak, Tuktoyaktuk’s mayor, said that longer summers and fiercer storms mean the coast is crumbling in plain view. (Chris Corday/CBC)

Last winter, four homes had to be removed from this block because they were dangerously close to ending up in the sea. Nasogaluak said another four will have to be moved this year.

Sandy Adam owns one of those homes and lives there with 13 family members. He said his four-bedroom house used to have a large yard that extended 30 metres behind his home, complete with a shed where he kept his skidoos and equipment tools.

Now, the shed is gone and his equipment and tools are scattered beside his house on a shrinking patch of earth. Today, there are fewer than two metres of land between the back of his home and the large boulders that are bolstering the weakened coast.

“Every time the water rise up, all that rock washed away, now it is starting to slide again,” said Adam. He has lived here since the early ’90s and likes the spot because he can look out and see beluga whales swim by.

“I like being close to the water,” he admitted, but ”not this close.”

Adam’s biggest concern is that there is no place for his three grandchildren to play anymore. The young girls scramble over boulders to get down to the water where they wade.

“When my grandkids play outside, I am scared they may break their legs,” he said. “I need a place for them to play besides these rocks.”