Barnstable County, Massachusetts: hazard history
What federal records show has already happened here: disaster declarations, storms, and flood insurance claims. This is a record of the past. It is not a forecast and not a hazard score.
At a glance
What this means
- The event NOAA recorded most often here is High Wind, with 221 records.
- The costliest single record is Coastal Flood in 2013: $5.3M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is High Wind in 2006, with 1 death.
- FEMA has declared 24 disasters that named this county, most often for hurricane.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 1991, with 1,333 claims.
What this can't tell you
- What happens next. Past events do not set the odds of the next one.
- Anything before 1996 from NOAA. That is when NOAA began recording every event type; earlier files hold only tornado, hail and wind, so they are left out on purpose.
- Today's cost. Damage and payments are in the dollars of the year they happened.
- A flood rate. NFIP counts claims but not how many homes were insured, and many flooded homes carry no flood insurance.
- Earthquakes, wildfire perimeters or radar-detected hail. Those records are not tied to counties.
Federal disaster declarations (FEMA)
FEMA declared 24 disasters that named Barnstable County between 1972 and 2023.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane | 9 | 2023 |
| Snowstorm | 5 | 2005 |
| Severe Storm | 4 | 2018 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Coastal Storm | 2 | 1992 |
| Fishing Losses | 1 | 1972 |
| Flood | 1 | 1978 |
Most recent declarations
- EM-3599 2023 · Hurricane · Hurricane Lee
- DR-4496 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- EM-3438 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-4372 2018 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storm And Flooding
- DR-4214 2015 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storm, Snowstorm, And Flooding
- DR-4110 2013 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storm, Snowstorm, And Flooding
- EM-3350 2012 · Hurricane · Hurricane Sandy
- DR-4097 2012 · Hurricane · Hurricane Sandy
- DR-4028 2011 · Hurricane · Tropical Storm Irene
- EM-3330 2011 · Hurricane · Hurricane Irene
Not counted above: 9 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Massachusetts. A declaration is a decision to send federal help, not a measure of how bad an event was. Records run from 1953. Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries.
Storms recorded by NOAA, by type
| Event type | Records | Deaths | Injuries | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 221 | 1 | 0 | $4.7M |
| Strong Wind | 118 | 0 | 0 | $282K |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 96 | 0 | 1 | $4.0M |
| Hail | 45 | 0 | 0 | $12K |
| Flood | 36 | 0 | 0 | $147K |
| Coastal Flood | 33 | 0 | 0 | $7.1M |
| Heavy Snow | 32 | 0 | 0 | $841K |
| Lightning | 32 | 1 | 8 | $2.8M |
| Heavy Rain | 22 | 0 | 0 | $50K |
| Tropical Storm | 20 | 0 | 0 | $3.7M |
| Flash Flood | 18 | 0 | 0 | $141K |
| Winter Storm | 16 | 0 | 0 | $210K |
| Winter Weather | 12 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Blizzard | 10 | 1 | 0 | $162K |
| Drought | 6 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Storm Surge/Tide | 6 | 0 | 0 | $200K |
| Tornado | 6 | 0 | 0 | $4.9M |
| Funnel Cloud | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Waterspout | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Excessive Heat | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heat | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| High Surf | 1 | 1 | 1 | $0 |
| Wildfire | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
Records start in 1996. Damage is NOAA's estimate at the time, in nominal dollars, and is often rounded; it is not insurance claims data. A storm that crossed two NOAA zones in this county is recorded, and counted, once per zone. A storm filed against a forecast zone is counted in every county that zone covers, with the whole storm's damage; do not add these figures across counties.
Year by year
NOAA storm event records in Barnstable County each year. The busiest year was 2019, with 120 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 24 | 0 | $800K |
| 1997 | 36 | 0 | $50K |
| 1998 | 33 | 0 | $3K |
| 1999 | 25 | 0 | $0 |
| 2000 | 23 | 0 | $25K |
| 2001 | 14 | 0 | $0 |
| 2002 | 5 | 0 | $20K |
| 2003 | 14 | 0 | $2.7M |
| 2004 | 4 | 0 | $20K |
| 2005 | 22 | 0 | $2.0M |
| 2006 | 23 | 1 | $342K |
| 2007 | 11 | 0 | $110K |
| 2008 | 26 | 0 | $161K |
| 2009 | 13 | 1 | $119K |
| 2010 | 11 | 0 | $120K |
| 2011 | 15 | 0 | $3.8M |
| 2012 | 15 | 0 | $1.1M |
| 2013 | 16 | 0 | $5.6M |
| 2014 | 24 | 0 | $328K |
| 2015 | 36 | 1 | $1.0M |
| 2016 | 32 | 0 | $206K |
| 2017 | 36 | 0 | $152K |
| 2018 | 45 | 1 | $423K |
| 2019 | 120 | 0 | $8.6M |
| 2020 | 34 | 0 | $39K |
| 2021 | 26 | 0 | $1.5M |
| 2022 | 12 | 0 | $26K |
| 2023 | 23 | 0 | $33K |
| 2024 | 13 | 0 | $9K |
| 2025 | 6 | 0 | $11K |
| 2026 | 2 | 0 | $0 |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Coastal Flood · Feb 9, 2013$5.3MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 433420
- Tropical Storm · Aug 28, 2011$3.7MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 340635
- Tornado · Jul 23, 2019$3.6MNOAA name: Barnstable County · NOAA record 846467
- Thunderstorm Wind · Jul 23, 2019$2.6MNOAA name: Barnstable County · NOAA record 846484
- Lightning · Aug 16, 2003$2.5MNOAA name: Barnstable County · NOAA record 5375141
Deadliest records
- High Wind · Jan 18, 20061 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · $100K damage · NOAA record 5489478
- Lightning · Jul 1, 20091 deathNOAA name: Barnstable County · NOAA record 186472
- Blizzard · Jan 26, 20151 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 557155
- High Surf · Sep 29, 20181 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · 1 injury · NOAA record 786876
Each line is one NOAA record, linked to its page at NOAA. One large storm can appear more than once if NOAA recorded it in several zones of this county. Dollars are nominal.
Flood insurance claims (NFIP)
The National Flood Insurance Program paid $42.0M on 3,135 claims in Barnstable County from 1978 to 2024.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 1,333 | $19.0M |
| 2018 | 294 | $8.8M |
| 1992 | 131 | $779K |
| 1987 | 128 | $789K |
| 1990 | 100 | $666K |
A count of claims, not a rate: NFIP publishes no count of insured homes beside it, and most flood damage is uninsured. Nominal dollars. Records run from 1978 to 2024; claims filed without a county code are not on any county page. Source: FEMA OpenFEMA FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims.
Hazard vulnerability analysis: the probability column for a facility in Barnstable County
A hazard vulnerability analysis rates each hazard for probability, impact, preparedness and response. Probability is the one column the county’s federal record can fill — NCEI storm events from 1996 to 2026 and FEMA declarations naming the county — and this is what it says for a facility here, on the 0–3 scale of the all-hazards structure surveyors expect. The other six columns are the facility’s own judgment about its building, and Calchis leaves them blank.
| Hazard | Prob. | Basis, from the county record |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane / Tropical Storm | 3 | 26 NCEI events over 31 years (0.84/yr). 11 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Severe Thunderstorm | 3 | 173 NCEI events over 31 years (5.58/yr). 4 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 109 NCEI events over 31 years (3.52/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 70 NCEI events over 31 years (2.26/yr). 5 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 3 | 339 NCEI events over 31 years (10.94/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Tornado | 2 | 6 NCEI events over 31 years (0.19/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Drought | 2 | 6 NCEI events over 31 years (0.19/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Epidemic | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 1 | 3 NCEI events over 31 years (0.10/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Wild Fire | 1 | 1 NCEI event over 31 years (0.03/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Earthquake | 1 | No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Landslide | 1 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Tidal Wave / Tsunami | 1 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Volcano | 1 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Dam Inundation | 1 | No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
A dash means the record does not speak to that hazard; it is not a zero. Whether a finished document satisfies the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule is the facility’s finding and its surveyor’s. Complete the HVA for a facility in Barnstable County — the technological, human and hazardous-materials rows, the six facility columns, the approval and the printed document — or read the sample analysis on that page first.
How this page was made
- Every figure is counted from public federal records held by Calchis: NOAA NCEI Storm Events, FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations, and FEMA NFIP claims. Nothing is modeled or estimated.
- NOAA files some events against a county and others against an NWS forecast zone, and publishes a code for both. Records are counted as Barnstable County by that code — county records by the county's own FIPS code, zone records through the National Weather Service's published list of which counties each zone covers. No name matching is involved. Of 739 records, 253 were filed against this county and 486 against a forecast zone covering it. A zone storm is counted in every county its zone covers, and its damage figure is the whole storm's, not this county's share — NOAA does not publish that split. So these figures describe this county; they must not be added up across counties.
- Counts last rebuilt from the source records on Sep 15, 2026.
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Recorded history from federal public records. Not a hazard score, a risk score, or a forecast, and not a substitute for professional actuarial or emergency-management assessment. Decision-support intelligence — not a primary alerting or dispatch system. Verify against official sources.