Hempstead County, Arkansas · Hope
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Hope, Perrytown and Fulton. 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.
With 20% of homes built before 1960 and about 4 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
April brings the most downpours to Hempstead County, part of 19.7 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
20% of homes here predate 1960, when clay and cast iron sewer laterals were standard. Roots and cracks in those lines are a common cause of backups.
In Hempstead County, 4.98 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
8% of occupied homes in Hempstead County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Arkansas county median of 10.9%.
About 112 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
About 19,508 people live in Hempstead County, 727 square miles in southwest Arkansas, in roughly 9,642 homes. The county seat is Hope, and Perrytown, Fulton and Blevins round out the largest towns. The county's median home was built in 1979.
66/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Hempstead County ranks 4 of 75 Arkansas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Hempstead County ranks highest compared with other Arkansas counties.
Hempstead County is milder than most of Arkansas, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 4 nights a year at or below 20°F (53rd of 75) and 47 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
On February 16, 2021 the low fell to about -5°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 4 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
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.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Nov 11 and the last spring freeze around Mar 17.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Arkansas. Of roughly 61.5 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 19.7 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 1st of 75. April, May and December see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 4.98 inches, April 30, 2016. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 7.45 inches (through February 23, 2018).
About 46 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
Arkansas's 75 counties range widely in housing age; Hempstead ranks 18th, with 53% of its homes built before 1980.
Before 1960 is when 20% of these homes went up. Galvanized supply lines and cast iron drains were standard then, and after 60-plus years both corrode and crack, often out of sight inside a wall or under a slab.
The 1980s and 1990s account for 29% 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.
19% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, above the Arkansas county median of 15%. 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.
With 22% of homes empty at survey time, landlords and seasonal owners should shut off the main or schedule checks in winter. An unheated vacant house is also where many policies limit freeze coverage.
Beyond water
About 112 nights a year in Hempstead County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (24th of 75 counties). April is the wettest month. 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, Hempstead County homes break down as 46% utility gas, 45% electric, 6% propane and 2% 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 Hempstead County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Howard and Pike get more pipe-freeze nights than Hempstead. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Hempstead | Arkansas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 20% | 15% | 14 of 75 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 53% | 46% | 18 of 75 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 18% | 23% | 57 of 75 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 19% | 15% | 22 of 75 |
| Vacant homes | 22% | 18% | 20 of 75 |
| Wood or propane heat | 7.7% | 11% | 52 of 75 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 4/yr | 6/yr | 53 of 75 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 20/yr | 17/yr | 1 of 75 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 46/yr | 48/yr | 44 of 75 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 112/yr | 105/yr | 24 of 75 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Arkansas county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Hempstead County: freezing from January, heavy rain in April, May 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