One road in
About 3,000 people live on the Squantum peninsula, and East Squantum Street is the only road on or off. The Boston Globe reported in 2025 that a resident counted four times in seven years when the road could not be driven, including the storms of 2018, 2022 and early 2024.
If a water heater lets go during one of those tides, a plumber may not be able to reach the house until the road opens. The two things that stop the damage are in your own basement. Close the cold water valve above the heater, then turn off the gas control or the breaker. The steps, with which way each valve turns.
It is worth finding both valves on a dry day.
The floor drain
The same Globe report said flood water in Squantum often comes up through the sewer drains, not over a seawall. In a storm, do not count on the basement floor drain to take the water from a leaking tank. Run the drain hose out a door or a window instead.
After the water goes down
If flood water reached the heater, leave it off. Bradford White's manual says not to use a heater if any external part of it has been under water. What to dry, and what to throw out.