Automated baseline from FEMA and NOAA data, release 2026-10.

Barnstable County, MA

Risk-assessment baseline packet. County FIPS 25001. Release 2026-10, data as of 2026-09-30.

Summary

Plan status as of 2026-09-30: No county-level plan row in FEMA data.

Highest expected annual loss (FEMA National Risk Index, modeled total; see B1-a): Inland Flooding ($44,220,809 a year), Hurricane ($19,966,652) and Coastal Flooding ($12,268,265).

The packet's tables are organized by the items of FEMA's Local Mitigation Plan Review Tool, Element B (B1-a to B2-c); the summaries below follow the same order.

Download the packet

Full packet as a web page. File manifest (checksums, source versions).

Plan clock

No county-level plan row in FEMA data

What changed since your last plan

No county-level plan row in FEMA data, so there is no approval date to count from.

Plan status for every jurisdiction listed in this county

15 jurisdictions. Each row is that jurisdiction's own plan clock.

JurisdictionTypeStatusPlanApprovedExpiresDays to expirynegative = days since expiry
Barnstable Town cityTownApproved, expires 2027-10-052021 Hazard Mitigation Plan Update Town of Barnstable, MA (FEMA plan 108285)2022-10-062027-10-05370
Bourne townTownExpired on 2022-11-29Bourne 2017 Draft Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 104723)2017-11-302022-11-29-1,401
Brewster townTownApproved, expires 2027-03-28Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan 2021 Brewster, Massachusetts (FEMA plan 108003)2022-03-292027-03-28179
Chatham townTownExpired on 2023-05-10Chatham Draft 2018 Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 105066)2018-05-112023-05-10-1,239
Dennis townTownExpired on 2016-06-03Barnstable County, Cape Cod, Massachusetts Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan Update (FEMA plan 10239)2011-06-032016-06-03-3,771
Eastham townTownExpired on 2025-10-21Eastham 2020 Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 106728)2020-10-222025-10-21-344
Falmouth townTownApproved, expires 2028-01-19Falmouth Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 108537)2023-01-202028-01-19476
Harwich townTownApproved, expires 2031-08-262026 Harwich Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 111725)2026-08-272031-08-261,791
Mashpee townTownApproved, expires 2029-08-01Town of Mashpee, MA Hazard Mitigation Plan Update, November 2023 (FEMA plan 109648)2024-08-022029-08-011,036
Orleans townTownExpired on 2025-01-01Orleans Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 105947)2020-01-022025-01-01-637
Provincetown townTownExpired on 2026-06-21Provincetown 2021 Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 107500)2021-06-222026-06-21-101
Sandwich townTownApproved, expires 2030-01-06Sandwich Hazard Mitigation Plan 2024 (FEMA plan 110165)2025-01-072030-01-061,194
Truro townTownExpired on 2022-05-30Truro 2017 Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 103838)2017-05-312022-05-30-1,584
Wellfleet townTownApproved, expires 2027-10-05Wellfleet 2022 Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 108346)2022-10-062027-10-05370
Yarmouth townTownApproved, expires 2031-08-262026 Yarmouth Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 111731)2026-08-272031-08-261,791

State plan status and tribal plans in this state: see the state page.

What the packet contains

Sections in FEMA checklist order; each heading names the review item its tables support. Full tables are in the downloads above.

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-a Hazard identification

16 of the 18 National Risk Index hazards apply here.

Not applicable to this county per NRI, with no federal declaration and no Storm Events record since 1996: avalanche and volcanic activity. That is the evidence for leaving them out of the plan.

Highest expected annual loss (NRI, modeled): Inland Flooding, Hurricane and Coastal Flooding.

Not covered by NRI (local data needed): dam failure (incl. upstream dams); levee failure; flash flood as its own subtype; ice jams; debris flows; erosion (riverine and coastal); land subsidence and sinkholes; expansive soils.

The state hazard mitigation plan also lists hazards for this county; FEMA asks the plan to explain any hazard it leaves out.

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-b Hazard location

  • Coastal Flooding and Inland Flooding: the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) is the required location source for flooding. See the FEMA Flood Map Service Center (https://msc.fema.gov) for this county.
  • Cold Wave, Drought, Hail, Heat Wave, Ice Storm, Lightning, Strong Wind and Winter Weather: affects the whole county; national data give no location within it.
  • Earthquake, Hurricane, Landslide, Tornado, Tsunami and Wildfire vary within the county; the packet lists the highest-rated census tracts for each.

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-c Hazard extent

Storm Events records for 13 of the 20 NOAA event-type groups mapped to the 18 hazards, with the scale, observed range and worst recorded event for each; the others say which local data are needed.

Worst recorded tornado, hail and thunderstorm wind (the three event types on record since the 1950s; the packet has every group):

  • Hail: 1.75 in hail, 1997-07-18; same size also recorded on 1981-07-13
  • Thunderstorm Wind: 95 kt (109 mph), measurement type not recorded, Thunderstorm Wind, 1973-07-15
  • Tornado: F1 tornado, 1977-08-22, 0.1 mi path length (whole path, pre-1996), 10 yd wide, $25,000 property; crops not recorded (1977 dollars), 2 direct injuries

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-d Previous occurrences

Federal declarations for this area: 24 declarations covering 18 separate hazard incidents counted in this packet; each with type, dates and county Public Assistance dollars.

No county-level plan row in FEMA data, so there is no approval date to count from.

3 statewide declarations listed separately.

Hazards with no Storm Events record and no federal declaration are stated as such (6 of 18).

Storm Events history: 626 records (notable ones in the PDF, all of them in the Excel file).

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-e Probability of future events

FEMA annualized frequency (modeled) for each hazard, with a descriptor from a scale defined in the packet.

  • Highly likely: Coastal Flooding and Lightning
  • Likely: Hail, Hurricane, Inland Flooding, Strong Wind and Winter Weather
  • Possible: Cold Wave, Drought, Heat Wave, Landslide, Tornado and Wildfire

Historical frequency by intensity band (tornado, hail, wind): 9 bands from Storm Events.

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-f Hazards that vary across jurisdictions

Range of census tract risk scores within the area for 16 of the 18 hazards (56 tracts; rated tracts only).

15 jurisdictions: plan clock, repeat-flood count, Public Assistance dollars and event records naming the place (starting figures from federal data).

County Public Assistance in B1-d also includes applicants filed under the county that are not jurisdictions in this plan (for example state agencies, special districts and nonprofits), so the jurisdiction rows add up to less.

Supports FEMA checklist items B2-a and B2-b Vulnerability and potential impacts

The packet's table gives county-level starting figures; the plan describes impacts for each jurisdiction and its own assets.

No county-level plan row in FEMA data, so there is no approval date to count from.

Local data needed

To gather:

  • Critical facilities and lifelines per hazard
  • A problem statement per jurisdiction per hazard
  • Changes in development in hazard-prone areas since the last approval, or a statement of none (E1-a)
  • Future assets

Supports FEMA checklist item B2-a Vulnerability (county context)

Population 228,870; building value $70,790,349,528 and agriculture value $29,766,343 (total, not at risk).

National Risk Index rating Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability Relatively Low; community resilience Very High.

Supports FEMA checklist item B2-c Repetitive loss properties

Repetitive-loss properties, FMA definition (44 CFR 77.2): 3 repetitive loss, 19 severe repetitive loss. NFIP insurance definition: 179 and 14.

Mitigated 6; insured 63; NFIP data as of 2026-08-02. Counts by occupancy group and for each jurisdiction are in the packet.

Releases

Each release is dated; this is release 2026-10. It was first published 2026-09-30; its files do not change. Later releases will be listed here with what changed between them. All releases.

Cite this

Hazard Plain (2026). Barnstable County, MA: risk-assessment baseline packet, release 2026-10 (data as of 2026-09-30; County FIPS 25001). Automated baseline. https://hazardplain.org/ma/25001/ Built from FEMA OpenFEMA, the FEMA National Risk Index and NOAA NCEI Storm Events; source versions in the packet's Sources list.

Source citations for the plan's bibliography (8)

How this packet is built: methods and sources