Provincetown is built on a strip of sand between the harbor and the dunes, and Commercial Street runs the length of it a few feet above high tide. The houses are packed tight: fishermen's Capes and Greek Revivals from the 1700s and 1800s, many moved here by barge from Long Point, converted condominium buildings, guesthouses, and cottages down the alleys to the water. Almost none have a real basement, and most sit on piers or a shallow crawl space in the sand.
The harbor comes up Commercial Street. The nor'easter of January 4, 2018 put three feet of water on the West End of the street and on Provincelands Road. The storms of December 18, 2023, January 13, 2024, and March 10, 2024 flooded the East End again and sent salt water through walkways and into first floors. Bulkheads are being raised in response. In between, the winter town is a fraction of the summer one, and closed-up units freeze.
We connect Provincetown homeowners and unit owners with an independent local water damage provider by phone. You say what you found, and the provider takes it from there.
Salt water in a first floor or a ground-level unit after a storm tide is flood cleanup, and it usually involves the condominium association as well as the owner. A frozen line in a unit that was closed for the winter is frozen pipe cleanup, and the water may have reached the unit below. Standing water under an old house on piers needs crawl space water extraction.
Rebuild permits come from the Town of Provincetown building department, and nearly the whole town is in the historic district, so exterior work goes to the historic district commission as well. The Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum on High Pole Hill keeps the record of how the town was built on this sand and how many times the harbor has come up the street.
Call (508) 419-9161 now and tell us what you see. A local water damage provider serving Provincetown takes it from there.
Standing water pumped out of a cottage, ranch, or motel room, then the first meter readings to see how far it traveled.
Air movers and dehumidifiers run by the readings until subfloor, framing, and plaster come back to their dry target in damp salt air.
Bay water, storm surge, and street runoff pumped out after a nor'easter, with soaked material removed and the rest dried.
Cleanup after a supply line froze and split in a second home or an unheated wall, then drying what the thaw soaked for days.
Standing water pumped from under a Cape or cottage on a high water table, then joists and subfloor checked and dried.
Wet insulation, ceilings, and walls dried out after wind-driven rain, an ice dam, or lifted shingles let a storm in.
A Mid-Cape basement pumped out after seepage, a sump failure, or a burst pipe, with finished walls and flooring metered and dried.
Furniture, rugs, papers, and keepsakes from a wet home sorted, dried, cleaned, and listed so you know what was saved.