North Eastham is calmer than 82% of U.S. communities
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in North Eastham comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community.
What stands out about North Eastham’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
What North Eastham faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Inland flooding
Hurricanes
Coastal flooding
How exposed is North Eastham?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 18% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and hurricanes.
Calmer than 264 of the 351 Massachusetts towns we cover.
North Eastham is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
Does North Eastham flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in North Eastham. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
North Eastham isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Barnstable County.Federal disasters declared here
None of the disasters declared for Barnstable County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching North Eastham itself in FEMA’s records.
Barnstable County has had 19 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and severe storms.
Get ready for what North Eastham actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- The season runs June through November and peaks from mid-August to mid-October.
- Bring in porch furniture and anything the wind can throw.
- Fill the gas tank and charge phones before the storm arrives.
- Know your evacuation zone and the way off the coast.
- Storm surge comes fast: leave when you’re told, not when the water arrives.
- Move cars to high ground before king tides and nor’easters.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
North Eastham and its neighbors
North Eastham has the lowest rating of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its hazards.
Rating = expected yearly storm and flood damage as a share of what’s there, vs. U.S. communities. Flood claims = paid federal flood insurance claims on record.
Most disasters here begin in August–October
The month each of Barnstable County’s 19 declared disasters began, since 1953.
What these numbers can and can’t tell you
- An average, not a forecast. FEMA’s National Risk Index estimates the damage 18 kinds of natural hazards cause in a typical year, from decades of records and models. A quiet decade can follow a bad year.
- Compared by rate. “Higher than N%” compares yearly damage as a share of what’s there, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings.
- Money that reached town. Flood claims are matched to North Eastham’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to North Eastham.
- It follows property value. FEMA’s model weighs damage to buildings, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in North Eastham.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025); OpenFEMA: NFIP redacted claims, multiple-loss properties, community status book and residential penetration rates, housing assistance (owners and renters), public assistance funded projects, hazard mitigation properties and disaster declarations. Census tracts: U.S. Census Bureau. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.