Free Flood Assessment Port Norfolk

The Neponset River at the Granite Avenue Bridge, near Port Norfolk in Dorchester. Photo: Sswonk via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

The City of Boston is offering free home flood assessments to residents of Port Norfolk, the small Dorchester waterfront neighborhood where the Neponset River meets Boston Harbor. Engineers inspect each participating home and deliver a report on how water could get in and what could be done about it, Boston 25 News reported on Oct. 23, 2026.

The pilot is run by the city’s Planning Department and Office of Climate Resilience. The assessments are optional and carry no obligation to make repairs.

Who is eligible

According to the city’s Resilient Port Norfolk program page:

All Port Norfolk residents are encouraged to apply.
Both homeowners and renters are eligible, but renters need their landlord’s approval before an assessment can go ahead.
Priority goes to buildings facing near-term risk, defined as those inside the boundary of a 1 percent annual chance flood with 9 inches of sea level rise, a scenario the city projects for the 2030s.

The Dorchester Reporter reported in April that the pilot was expected to serve about 40 to 50 property owners.

How to sign up

Applications go through the city’s online form at bosplans.org/PortNorfolkFloodAssessment. The city says it accepts applications on a rolling basis, and its program page lists a timeline of November 2025 through September 2026 along with an FAQ and an introductory presentation. Because that listed window has passed, residents interested in a slot should confirm with the Planning Department whether openings remain.

What the engineers check

Assessments are done by Tidal Basin, the engineering firm chosen by the city. At one Dorchester condo, engineers examined utility connections, walls and floors, and found a large crack in a relatively new concrete floor, Boston 25 reported.

“We’re trying to look at the things that make the house vulnerable to flooding,” said Scott Tezak, Tidal Basin’s senior vice president and chief operating officer. Basements matter most, he told the station, because they often hold utilities and equipment that floodwater can damage.

Each household receives a brief report with recommended, but not required, improvements, and a free elevation certificate, which can be useful for homes in a flood insurance zone, according to the Dorchester Reporter. Suggested fixes may include:

Patching foundation cracks to keep water out
Installing backflow preventers so water cannot back up through sewer lines
Adding sump pumps or flood-proofing the foundation
Moving utilities up out of the basement, which Tezak said can sometimes lower insurance premiums
Landscaping changes or, in some cases, raising the house

Port Norfolk homeowner Ken Cooper, who has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years, told Boston 25 why he signed up: “I just wanted to know if there was anything that I should be doing that wouldn’t dig too deep in my pocket to mitigate my risk here.”

Why Port Norfolk, and why now

More than 20,000 Boston properties, over 20 percent of the city’s total, are considered at significant risk of flooding over the next 30 years, Boston 25 reported. Just an inch of water inside an average-sized home can cause an estimated $25,000 in damage, the station said. With about 673,000 residents in the U.S. Census Bureau’s July 2025 estimate, Boston has a large population living near the water.

“This is really the first move from a decade of planning to a decade of implementation,” Chris Osgood, director of the Office of Climate Resilience, said at an April public meeting, according to the Reporter. Delaney Morris-Landry of the Planning Department told Boston 25 that much of the city’s climate planning has centered on large infrastructure: “A lot of people are really interested in being empowered with action because they know some of these larger-scale projects are going to take a lot of time and money.”

The pilot is funded by a $250,000 state budget line item secured by state Rep. Dan Hunt, using money that came from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, the Reporter reported. City officials also told the paper Boston expects to apply this year to the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System, which can lower flood insurance costs for residents of participating communities. City officials told Boston 25 they hope to bring similar programs to other flood-prone neighborhoods.

More Dorchester coverage

For other neighborhood news, read our Dorchester Bay City project update, our explainer on how Boston’s speed hump program works, and our report on the Bluebikes e-bike grant.

Sources

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Port Norfolk Residents Can Get Free Home Flood Assessments From Boston