Monroe County, Alabama · Monroeville
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Monroe County averages 1 night a year at 20°F or colder, mostly midwinter, and 12% of its homes predate 1960.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 17.7 times a year here, most often in April. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Monroe County gets about 17.7 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Monroe County, 3.58 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
9% of occupied homes in Monroe County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Alabama county median of 9.9%.
About 134 nights a year here stay at 65°F or warmer, so basements and crawl spaces can grow mold even without a leak.
Local risk profile
Monroe County covers 1,026 square miles of southwest Alabama, with about 19,388 residents and 10,208 homes. Monroeville is the county seat; Frisco City, Excel and Uriah are the next largest communities. Half the homes here were built before 1984, half after.
46/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Monroe County ranks 39 of 67 Alabama counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Monroe County ranks highest compared with other Alabama counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Alabama, and pipes still freeze. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 1 night a year at or below 20°F (55th of 67) and 23 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Hard freezes are uncommon here, about 23 nights a year at or below 32°F, and that's exactly why they do damage: pipes in attics, exterior walls and slab-edge plumbing are rarely insulated. The coldest night in the record was about 16°F on January 8, 2015.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Alabama. Of roughly 58.7 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 17.7 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 5th of 67. January, April and December see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 3.58 inches, October 8, 2017. The worst three-day stretch dropped 7.58 inches, ending January 3, 2017, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 22 days a year. Each cycle melts and refreezes water at roof edges and in foundation cracks, which is how ice dams and basement seepage get started.
Housing
Roughly 42% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Monroe near the middle of Alabama's 67 counties.
The mix runs from 12% built before 1960 to 19% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
39% date from 1980 to 1999, the window when polybutylene, a gray flexible plastic supply pipe, was used in some homes. It's prone to leaks at the fittings, so it's worth checking for in a house from those years.
Here 21% of housing is manufactured homes. Check the skirting and the heat tape on the main water line every fall, because that one exposed line is what freezes.
28% of homes were vacant at survey time. A leak in an empty rental or seasonal house can run for days before anyone notices, which is why those losses tend to be larger.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 134 times a year here, above the Alabama county median of 112. Mold grows when indoor humidity stays above about 60%, the EPA's ceiling. A basement dehumidifier set to 50% and drying anything wet within 24 to 48 hours prevents most problems.
Mold remediation: what to expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Monroe County it's 10% utility gas, 80% electric, 8% propane and under 1% wood. Heating equipment, cooking and electrical failures cause most home fires nationally. Even a small kitchen fire can leave soot through the whole house, because smoke follows air currents into closets, ducts and attic space.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Monroe County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Clarke and Wilcox get more pipe-freeze nights than Monroe. Butler County has the oldest housing nearby, with 52% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Monroe | Alabama median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 12% | 16% | 55 of 67 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 42% | 44% | 41 of 67 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 19% | 23% | 49 of 67 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 21% | 22% | 37 of 67 |
| Vacant homes | 28% | 16% | 6 of 67 |
| Wood or propane heat | 8.7% | 9.9% | 37 of 67 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 1/yr | 3/yr | 55 of 67 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 18/yr | 15/yr | 5 of 67 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 22/yr | 38/yr | 59 of 67 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 134/yr | 112/yr | 8 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 Monroe County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in January, April and December.
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