klepZ HighWater

Flood history / Massachusetts / ZIP 02738

ZIP 02738
Plymouth County, MA

Paid claims1811978–2021
Total paid$2.9M$16K average
Heaviest year1991136 claims
Outside high-risk zone12%of claims with a rated zone

Property owners in ZIP 02738 have been paid $2.9M on 181 National Flood Insurance Program claims between 1978 and 2021 — an average of $16K a claim, across 18 separate years in which someone here filed and was paid.

The heaviest year

1991 is the heaviest year on file: 136 paid claims, 75.1% of the ZIP's total. More than half of everything ever paid here traces to that single year. The largest named event in the record is Hurricane Bob, with 132 claims.

3 of those claims — 1.7% — were filed since 2017. The bulk of this ZIP's record is older than that.

Named eventPaid claimsShare of record
Hurricane Bob13272.9%
December Storm - Nor'easter31.7%

Where the claims sat on the map

Of the 180 claims here that record a rated flood zone, 22 — 12.2% — were on properties rated outside the mapped high-risk area, in a B, C or X zone. Claims here concentrate inside the mapped high-risk area, which is what the maps intend. Flood insurance is not required outside the high-risk zone, and most properties there do not carry it — so these counts come from the minority who did.

The water near this ZIP

The closest gauges publishing official flood thresholds are Buzzards Bay at New Bedford Hurricane Barrier (IN MLLW) (10.2 mi), Buzzards Bay at New Bedford Harbor (Inside Barrier) (10.3 mi) and Buzzards Bay at Woods Hole (IN MLLW) (13.3 mi). A gauge describes one point on one river — it will not see street drainage, sewer backup, storm surge or flash flooding.

Read current gauge conditions for 02738 →

What this does not say

These are paid National Flood Insurance Program claims, nothing more. They count insured properties whose owners filed and were paid, so they are a floor on how often this ZIP has flooded — never a measure of how likely it is to flood next. Uninsured flooding leaves no trace here at all.

The figures are aggregates published by FEMA. No individual claim, address or policyholder appears on this page or in the data behind it. Nothing here is a forecast, a warning, or advice about insurance.

Other Massachusetts ZIP codes on file

  • 02066 Plymouth County · 3,196 claims
  • 02045 Plymouth County · 2,369 claims
  • 02050 Plymouth County · 1,393 claims
  • 02571 Plymouth County · 642 claims
  • 02047 Plymouth County · 517 claims
  • 02739 Plymouth County · 457 claims
  • 02332 Plymouth County · 431 claims
  • 02360 Plymouth County · 290 claims

All Massachusetts ZIP codes →