Water Damage Restoration in SouthCoast and Cape Cod, MA

This region has three very different kinds of water damage. Along Buzzards Bay and the Cape, the danger is the sea: hurricanes and nor'easters push salt water into low streets and ground floors, and that water has to be treated as contaminated flood water. On the Cape, the quieter danger is the empty house. A third of Barnstable County housing units are seasonal or occasional-use homes, and a pipe that splits during a January freeze in a closed cottage can run for days before anyone checks. Inland, in Taunton, Attleboro, Norton, Mansfield and Easton, the risk is rain: rivers that crest and storms that dump inches in a few hours.

New Bedford and Fall River are some of the oldest housing in the state. New Bedford has a median year built of 1938, with 52 percent of homes built before 1940, and Fall River is not far behind, both full of triple-deckers and mill-era housing where most residents rent and one leak can reach several flats. Cape houses run newer (Barnstable County median 1977) but include many seasonal cottages with crawl spaces and minimal insulation. Crews dry hardwood, plaster and framing in place where they can and remove soaked carpet pad, insulation and drywall below the waterline.

How homes here take on water depends on where they stand. In New Bedford and Fall River, triple-deckers and mill-era houses with deep basements and old plumbing runs are prone to frozen lines, basement seepage and floor drain backups in heavy rain, and many are rentals with several households under one roof. Along Buzzards Bay, in Wareham, Marion, Mattapoisett, Fairhaven and Westport, low houses near the water face surge and wind-driven rain. On the Cape, many homes are cottages and second homes on crawl spaces or slabs, closed for months at a time. Inland Bristol County towns like Taunton, Raynham, Norton and Mansfield have a mix of older village homes and newer subdivisions with finished basements and sump pumps.

The coast here has a long storm record. In the September 21, 1938 hurricane, parts of Falmouth and New Bedford were under as much as 8 feet of water, and the New Bedford hurricane barrier was built from 1962 to 1966 after the 1938 and 1954 storms. On August 19, 1991, Hurricane Bob pushed a 10 to 15 foot surge into Buzzards Bay, highest at Onset, Bourne and Wareham, and on one Mattapoisett road 29 of 37 homes were damaged. Winters are milder on the Cape (Hyannis averages about 21.5 inches of snow a year), but a mild climate does not stop a pipe in an empty house from freezing.

Inland, rain is the bigger threat. In March 2010, the Wading River at Norton set a record crest and Route 44 in Taunton closed for flooding for the first time in over 40 years. On September 11, 2023, North Attleborough got about 5 inches of rain in three to four hours, and about 200 homes reported damage.