Storms on Surfside Beach on the Gulf of Mexico have moved the vegetation line landward of petitioners’ houses. 1 When the Village of Surfside Beach refused to allow the houses to be repaired or to have access to utilities, and the State asserted that the houses encroach on a public access easement and must be removed, petitioners sued, contending among other things that the State’s assertion amounts to a constitutionally compensable taking of their property. The court of appeals rejected petitioners’ claims, 365 S.W.3d 1 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2010), and petitioners sought review in this Court.

While their petition has been pending, we have issued our opinion in Severance v. Patterson, 370 S.W.3d 705, 725 (Tex. 2012), concluding that “avulsive events such as storms and hurricanes that drastically alter pre-existing littoral boundaries do not have the effect of allowing a public use easement to migrate onto previously unencumbered property”. We now conclude that this case should be remanded to the court of appeals for further consideration in light of Severance.

Accordingly, we grant the petition for review and without hearing oral argument, vacate the judgment of the court of appeals and remand the case to that court for further proceedings. Tex.R.App. P. 59.1, 60.2(f).