Kathy and Tom Brickley knew erosion would be an immutable part of owning a property on Lake Michigan when they moved into their dream cottage 15 years ago.

For the first decade, the erosion caused by waves wearing away at beaches and dunes in annual cycles was manageable.

Then the water started rising.

Extreme rainfall and reduced evaporation during the 2010s caused the Great Lakes to rise to record-breaking levels by 2020, swallowing up beaches and digging away at the dunes behind them, threatening waterfront homes like the Brickleys’, which is in Berrien County.

“Plenty of sleepless nights,” Tom Brickley recalled while looking out at the water on a recent afternoon.

Back then, dramatic footage of homes tumbling into the water spurred calls to reform state and local policies that lea

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