Hale County, Alabama · Greensboro
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Moundville, Greensboro and Newbern. Start the steps below while you wait.
Answered 24/7 by a participating local provider. We're a referral service and don't do the work ourselves. How it works
Start here
Pick the closest match. These steps limit the damage and protect your insurance claim. Skip anything that isn't safe.
Hale County averages 3 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly January, and 14% of its homes predate 1960.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 13.8 times a year here, most often in February. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Hale County gets about 13.8 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Hale County, 4.25 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
10% of occupied homes in Hale County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the Alabama county median of 9.9%.
With 118 muggy nights a year, mold in Hale County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Hale County covers 644 square miles of western Alabama, with about 14,829 residents and 7,594 homes. Greensboro is the county seat; Moundville, Newbern and Akron are the next largest communities. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1985.
37/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Hale County ranks 58 of 67 Alabama counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Hale County ranks highest compared with other Alabama counties.
Pipe-freeze risk in Hale County sits near the middle of the state. It averaged 37 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 3 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 67 Alabama counties that's 25th.
Most freezing nights fall from January, peaking in January. Disconnect garden hoses and shut off outdoor spigots before the first hard frost, and keep the heat at 55°F or higher if you'll be away.
Freezing nights typically start around Nov 16 and end around Mar 9.
Hale gets fewer downpours than most Alabama counties, but they still fill basements. About 13.8 days a year bring an inch or more (60th of 67), most often in February, out of 54.1 inches of total precipitation. On December 28, 2018, 4.25 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 5.74 inches, ending June 24, 2017, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 36 days a year swing from below freezing at night to above freezing by day. Those freeze-thaw cycles feed ice dams on roofs, open cracks in foundations and driveways, and stress pipes that are already marginal.
Housing
43% of homes in Hale County predate 1980, close to the Alabama county median of 43.5%, which ranks 37th of Alabama's 67 counties.
Older and newer homes sit side by side here: 14% predate 1960 and 21% are from 2000 or later. Corroded pipe is the typical failure in the first group, burst supply hoses in the second.
The 1980s and 1990s account for 36% of the county's homes. If yours is from those decades, look under the sinks and at the water heater for gray plastic pipe stamped PB, which is polybutylene and leak-prone.
38% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, above the Alabama county median of 21.7%. Their water lines run under the floor behind the skirting, so a torn skirt or failed heat tape freezes them faster than lines in a site-built house.
The Census counted 26% of homes as vacant, above the Alabama county median of 15.8%. Empty houses are where a small leak turns into a large claim, because nobody is there to hear it.
Beyond water
Hale County averages 118 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in February. Keep indoor humidity under 60%, as the EPA advises, and dry any leak within 24 to 48 hours; in a humid month a wet basement left alone won't dry by itself.
Mold remediation: what to expectBy main heating fuel, Hale County homes break down as 12% utility gas, 78% electric, 9% propane and 1% wood. Most homes here heat with gas or electricity, so cooking and electrical faults are the likelier fire sources. Even a contained kitchen fire can send soot through the ductwork to every room.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Hale County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Hale gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Greene County has the oldest housing nearby, with 49% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Hale | Alabama median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 14% | 16% | 46 of 67 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 43% | 44% | 37 of 67 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 21% | 23% | 43 of 67 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 38% | 22% | 3 of 67 |
| Vacant homes | 26% | 16% | 12 of 67 |
| Wood or propane heat | 10% | 9.9% | 34 of 67 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 3/yr | 3/yr | 25 of 67 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 14/yr | 15/yr | 60 of 67 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 36/yr | 38/yr | 35 of 67 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 118/yr | 112/yr | 30 of 67 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Alabama county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Hale County: freezing from January, heavy rain in January, February and April.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year estimates (2020-2024); weather from NOAA nClimGrid-Daily county averages (EpiNOAA), 2015–2024, averaged across the county; county boundaries from Census TIGER. Reviewed 2026-10-21. Methodology